RWBY: The Novelization
by Bryan C. Laesch
Summary: RWBY is one of the most successful animes ever produced in the US by web-based entertainment company Rooster Teeth Productions. Now you can read some of your favorite RWBY scenes and reconnect with the world of Remnant in a whole new way. For important information, click this link: /ERWkzleSUDo
1. Red Trailer

On the island of Patch in the Kingdom of Vale, there was a mountainside topped by a thick forest. Several inches of snow lay on the ground as more continued to fall from the grey sky. The moon had started to rise and the landscape was empty except for a solitary figure. The figure was dwarfed by the trees around it, and wore a riding hood and cape that were red like roses.

The figure exited the forest to a clearing at the edge of a cliff where a tombstone marked the memorial of Summer Rose. The phrase "Thus kindly I scatter" was engraved beneath her name.

The figure stopped. It stood before the tombstone and was quiet as the snow continued to fall. Finally, it sniffled and a tear rolled down its cheek. A dainty, white hand rose to the face and wiped the tear away.

"I miss you," said a small voice.

The figure stayed there for a little longer, still silent. The sky got darker and a full moon had risen into the sky. In the distance, a howl much like a wolf's could be heard.

The figure's eyes narrowed. It sniffled again and without a word turned back the way it came.

It walked back through the forest of leafless trees. The weather became colder as the wind picked up. The figure pulled its cloak tighter around its tiny body and braced against the wind, but it was still cold—sad and cold. But despite the sorrow and chill, the journey still had to be made. Even as another howl rang out and something big and black whipped past, the journey still had to be made despite the risk.

The lone figure stepped into a wide clearing where a pack of shadowy monsters had gathered. They looked like wolves but were five feet tall on all fours and eight feet on two. Their bodies were black and emitted a shadowy essence. They had bone white claws and spikes that came out of their spines, arms, and shoulders. The top of their heads was missing the skin showing the top of their skulls with red vein-like cracks made throughout. They had no lips and openly bore their teeth and fangs. Their throats and eyes burned like the fires of hell. They were Beowolves, creatures of Grimm, drawn by the figure's grief and now feasting on the animosity it bore them.

Three Beowolves charged and swung their claws, but in a red flash and flurry of rose petals, the figure was gone. It jumped into the air where the wind caught its hood and cape revealing the tiny frame of a young girl. She wore a black, Gothic shirt and skirt with a waist cincher, and her bobbed hair was black ending in dark red gradients. But what made the Grimm quake with fear was the girl's silver eyes.

The girl reached behind her and pulled out a red metal object. It opened up into a rifle and the girl fired three shots in quick succession hitting each of the Beowolves in the head.

The girl landed and another Beowolf charged her. She shot it and used the recoil from her rifle to roll backward. She spun the rifle around further opening it into a great mechanical scythe.

The pack circled the girl and she gave them a hard look.

"How dare you disturb my mother's rest," said Ruby Rose. "I'm going to make you pay." The faintest hint of a smirk pulled on her lips.

A Beowolf charged and Ruby swung her scythe, but the beast made it inside her guard. It threatened to rip her throat out until a shot was fired from the end of the scythe and the Beowolf was viciously decapitated.

The pack charged, but Ruby spun her scythe and the blade landed in the snow. She cocked the bolt and started firing as fast as she could. With each shot, more and more Beowolves fell. But there were too many and they succeeded in closing in on her. With a flurry of spins and twirls, Ruby hacked and slashed the Beowolves apart cutting off their limbs, heads, and slicing them in twain.

Once, she wrapped her scythe's blade around a Beowolf's neck, jumped onto its back and pulled the trigger. The blade bit into the Beowolf's neck, but more than that, Ruby was thrown into the air. Several Beowolves saw her as vulnerable and leapt at her. But she shot her scythe into the air and spun downward shredding the Beowolves with great brutality.

The girl landed in the snow and discovered that the pack of Beowolves had grown substantially. Drawn by her negative emotions and the sounds of battle, they had been lured from the forest. They growled and licked their chops savoring the meal to come.

Ruby dropped the box magazine from her scythe and rearmed with another. She flipped her scythe around so it was pointing behind her and fired. She was launched forward and slashed several Beowolves in half, but not being satisfied, she ran along the ground and a power called a Semblance propelled her at inhuman speeds summoning rose petals in her wake. She neared the pack, opened her scythe blade to resemble a spear, and began spinning slicing the Beowolves in a great fury of steel.

Ruby stopped in the center of the pack and slashed away with great vehemence. She fired her scythe multiple times as she spun it hand over hand, arm over arm, and around her body in a complex combination. With one final shot, she killed the last Beowolf and backflipped. She landed on her feet and held her scythe at an angle behind her. The battlefield was littered with rifle rounds and the bodies of Beowolves. But as they died, their shadowy essences drifted away and their bodies evaporated.

Ruby collapsed her scythe and hung it on her back. She lifted her hood and began her journey home no worse for wear, but much warmer. 

Stalk me everywhere:  
BLOG:

FACEBOOK: thewriterbryanlaesch

BS Page: bawdyscholar

INSTAGRAM: bryanclaesch

: bryanclaesch

TUMBLR: .com

TWITTER: BryanofAllTrade

YOUTUBE: channel/UCLeDVBfO7mR0s-eyGPCZlTQ

c/bawdyscholar


	2. White Trailer

On the frozen continent to the north known as Solitas, there was a kingdom known as Atlas. The most influential family of Atlas owned an enormous mansion that was more like a castle and fortress than a home. One of the structures on the property was known as the White Cathedral due to its architecture rather than any religious reason.

The White Cathedral was a great cavernous hall left abandoned long ago and haunted by the ghosts of a resplendent past. The only thing left to guard the hall was a suit of armor, more of a sculpture than an actual bodyguard. But recently, an evil entity had taken up residence within the suit of armor drawn by the family's bitter resentment towards one another. The entity was a Geist, a creature of Grimm, and by merging its being with the suit of armor, it became a manifestation known as the Arma Gigas.

The possession of the suit of armor had come to the family's attention, and the father of the family took it upon himself to pull the strings necessary to have the Atlesian military come and destroy it. But when a challenger did finally come, it was not a soldier, but instead a girl. She bore a regal stature wearing a strapless, white combat dress with a white and red-lined bolero. Her long, white hair was tied into a ponytail off to the side of her head rather than behind, and she carried a weapon known as a Multi-Action Dust Rapier.

The girl was Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company's vast fortune.

Weiss willingly walked into the White Cathedral to fight the Arma Gigas herself to prove to her father she could become a huntress. Her father forbade it, but entitled by her sorrow and becoming the loneliest one of all, Weiss was determined to become the strongest huntress in the world.

Weiss stopped before the Arma Gigas regarding it with her blue eyes as it rose. It towered over her and took hold of its gigantic sword. Weiss drew her rapier in her left hand and pointed it at the Grimm. It swung its sword, but Weiss disappeared in a white flash as she dashed around behind the Gigas striking it in the knees.

The Gigas swung again, and Weiss dodged its attack jumping into the air and stabbing it many times over. The Gigas took no damage and whacked Weiss away with one giant swing. Weiss defended herself with her rapier, but she was knocked back several feet sliding against the floor on her toes.

The Gigas leapt at her and brought its sword crashing down. Weiss managed to dodge, but the Gigas moved quickly and hit Weiss again. She was still able to defend herself, but this time she landed on her back.

Weiss flipped back onto her feet and revealed her Semblance by summoning a white glyph beneath her. She dashed forward at impossible speed dodging another swing. She backflipped into the air and made several slashes to the head of the Gigas. Weiss summoned another glyph and shot herself to the ground where with several dainty and dance-like movements, she made several hits to the Gigas' knees.

She jumped into the air again and used another glyph to propel herself forward. She made several cuts on the Gigas' chest and then summoned another glyph on which to land. The Gigas swung its sword and Weiss jumped over it, but then the Grimm slammed its enormous fist into her and launched her back several yards.

Weiss went to stand, but found herself nearly beaten. She had little strength left and was out of breath. But worse than that, a jagged spike on the Gigas had connected with her face and left a cut down her left eye. Blood streamed down her face and splashed on the floor.

Weiss managed to stand, but she was forced to keep her eye closed. She pulled the trigger on her rapier and the barrel revolved until it stopped on a form of pale green Dust. Weiss pulled the trigger all the way and the hollow blade of her rapier was filled with the Dust's energy.

The Gigas charged and swung its sword down on Weiss. She lifted her rapier up and when the Gigas' sword connected with hers, the pale green Dust took on the shape of a circular shell shielding Weiss from the attack.

Weiss then spun and selected an ice Dust on her rapier. She impaled her blade into the ground and a train of ice crystals shot forward trapping the Gigas' foot and immobilizing it. But the Gigas was close enough to strike Weiss and it tried to do so, but she jumped onto its sword and switched back to the pale green Dust. She ran up the Grimm's sword and slashed at its hand. The release of energy caused the Gigas to be disarmed.

Weiss landed on the other side of the Gigas and faced it. It charged her, but she summoned a glyph at her feet and rolled out of the way. The Gigas landed its heavy fist onto the glyph and shattered the stone floor. Weiss waved her hand and the glyph exploded launching the suit of armor into the air.

Weiss waved her sword in a circle and five miniature glyphs appeared. She cast them out and they flew at the Gigas each entrapping a limb and suspending it in the air. Weiss then summoned a glyph beneath her and launched herself into the air. At the apex of her climb, she selected a new experimental form of Dust known only as Ultima. It filled her blade with a glowing white energy, and Weiss shot downward with another glyph and struck the Gigas.

Weiss landed on the floor kneeling and heard the suit of armor clatter against the floor behind her. The Geist Grimm had been defeated.

Weiss stood and wiped the blood from her eye. Now, maybe her father would let her train at Beacon Academy in the Kingdom of Vale.

Stalk me everywhere:

BLOG:

FACEBOOK: thewriterbryanlaesch

BS Page: bawdyscholar

INSTAGRAM: bryanclaesch

: bryanclaesch

TUMBLR: .com

TWITTER: BryanofAllTrade

YOUTUBE: channel/UCLeDVBfO7mR0s-eyGPCZlTQ

c/bawdyscholar


	3. Black Trailer

The Black Trailer

In the forest of Forever Fall, a wood of constant autumn within the borders of the Kingdom of Vale, there was a ragtag group of terrorists called the White Fang founded by the animal-like race of Faunus. Stolen weapons, resources, and Dust littered their campsite. Their leader, a man named Adam Taurus, exited a tent. He was tall with red spiked hair and wore a black suit with a red shirt and black trench coat. He wore a white mask over his face and carried a sheathed katana in his hand.

Adam ran his hand through his hair and over his ox antlers as he walked out to a deserted area of the forest near the camp. There he found who he was looking for: a girl of seventeen with long black hair and wearing a black bow. She wore a black vest with coattails over a white cropped shirt, black, ankle high boots, white shorts and full length stockings that had a color gradient from black to violet at her ankles. She was sitting on a boulder and looking up at the sky.

"Blake," called Adam. "It's time."

Blake turned to him and looked unusually sad. "Okay."

Blake and Adam took off dashing through the forest barely leaving a trail. They came to a cliff with a steep hillside overlooking a set of train tracks. In the distance, a whistle blew and a freight train loaded with shipping containers displaying the crest of the Schnee Dust Company was coming.

As it passed, Blake and Adam jumped onto the steep incline and slid down it throwing up fallen leaves. They jumped as they neared the bottom and landed on one of the boxcars. They ran and jumped to the next car. Adam casually flicked his wrist and slashed open a hatch which they dropped into.

Adam looked back at Blake. "Looks like we're going to be doing this the hard way."

Blake looked up and a platoon of Atlesian Knight-130's jumped to life.

"Don't be so dramatic," said Blake.

The AK-130s' sensors turned red. They held up their hands and their fingers became machine gun barrels. One turned to Adam and said, "Intruder; identify yourself."

Adam responded by pulling a trigger on his sheath and shot his sword into the head of the AK. Adam dashed, caught his sword, and with blindingly quick slashes, he destroyed the AK and replaced his sword to its sheath.

The other AK's sprouted blades where their hands were and charged. Blake jumped backward into two oncoming Knights and hacked them apart with her black machete which had a long black ribbon attached to its haft. She dashed forward and she and Adam went to work hacking and slashing the AK's as they closed in.

One AK started shooting machine gun fire from its fingers and Adam shielded them by slicing the projectiles out of the air. Blake surged forward and slashed two more AK's in her way before unsheathing her true sword, a katana within the machete sheath, and cut the AK down at the knees before slashing its head open.

Blake continued moving forward using both her katana and sheath to cut down AK's as they got in her way. They were no match for her dual blades as they danced and circled through the air. One Knight was launched into the air and Adam kicked it through a door leading out onto a neighboring flatcar.

Several more AK-130's sprang to life and charged them.

"Let's do this!" said Adam.

He drew his katana and killed the first two. Blake leapt forward and transformed her katana into a kusarigama by collapsing the katana and a gun barrel slid out. As Blake threw it forward, she shot the gun giving it more force. She grabbed the ribbon attached to the handle and pulled it taut. There was another shot and it returned to her slashing AK's as it went. She flipped into the air and pulled the ribbon every which way shooting the attached gun every time and destroying the surrounding AK's as it went.

Once a path was cleared, Adam charged forward and slew another seven AK's with some deft blade work. Blake brought up the rear with her katana back in shape and cleaned up the rest of the Atlesian Knights.

With the androids taken care of, Blake and Adam proceeded into the next boxcar where they found a steel chest.

Adam opened it. "Perfect!" he said. "Move up to the next car. I'll set the charges."

"What about the crew members?" asked Blake a little worried.

"What about them?" said Adam in a harsh tone.

Suddenly, a Spider Droid dropped down from the boxcar's ceiling on four legs. It had two large cannons on either hand and the same configuration on shoulder mounted cannons.

The Spider Droid charged its eight cannons and fired multiple shots. Adam managed to dodge every shot while Blake dodged and dashed straight at it. She leapt at the war machine, but it countered her by headbutting her and knocked her down.

Blake landed on the ground heavily, and as the Spider Droid stepped over her, Adam leapt in and made several slashes against it, but didn't do any serious damage.

The Droid kicked Adam back and then shot several rounds at him. He dodged every one.

The Droid considered Blake and threatened to crush her under one of its pointed legs. Adam materialized out of thin air, grabbed Blake and headed for the other end of the train car where he put her down.

"We need to get out of here," said Blake.

The Spider Droid combined its eight cannons together into one giant charged particle cannon. It charged a beam and fired. Adam placed himself between Blake and the beam, but the force of it alone was strong to enough to knock him and Blake through the steel wall behind them onto the next flatcar.

Blake and Adam struggled to their feet and the Spider Droid followed them onto the car.

"Buy me some time!" said Adam.

"Are you sure?"

"Do it!" he ordered.

Blake dashed at the Droid while Adam stood there and found his center.

Blake dodged several more shots and then leapt into the air slashing at the Droid's undercarriage, but turned her katana into the kusarigama and jumped into the air. Once at the end of the ribbon, she pulled it and shot the gun further slashing the Droid. She spun as she fell and slashed the Droid several more times.

On the ground, she pulled her weapon back, turned it back into a katana and proceeded to dash all around the Droid hacking and slashing as she went. The Droid tried to shoot her once, but the blast hit one of her Shadow Clones, her Semblance, and she advanced without taking any damage.

Blake appeared in the Droid's face and held down the trigger on her gun firing it fully automatic until the magazine was empty. She retreated back to Adam's side when the Spider Droid prepared to fire its charged particle cannon again.

Adam ordered her to move, and as the Droid fired its cannon, Adam unsheathed his sword part way and absorbed the entire beam into his blade. He quickly sheathed his sword and laughed. The Droid leapt at him, but Adam shot his sword into his hand and slashed upward cutting the Spider Droid in two.

After the Droid fell, Adam sheathed his sword and looked for Blake. He turned and saw her on the next car.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

Blake looked like she was close to crying. "Your hopes have become my burden. Goodbye," she said, slashing the car's coupling. The following train cars automatically braked, and Blake disappeared into the darkness of the night with the advancing engine.

BLOG:

FACEBOOK: thewriterbryanlaesch

BS Page: bawdyscholar

INSTAGRAM: bryanclaesch

: bryanclaesch

TUMBLR: .com

TWITTER: BryanofAllTrade

YOUTUBE: channel/UCLeDVBfO7mR0s-eyGPCZlTQ

c/bawdyscholar


	4. Yellow Trailer

A sport motorcycle roared through the city streets of Vale. The street lights made its yellow and orange gradients blaze in the night. Atop the bike was a young girl of seventeen. She accelerated her precious Bumblebee down a straight before braking for a left turn and came to a screeching halt just outside of Junior's Club, one of Vale's most popular night spots.

The girl dismounted her bike and took off her yellow helmet and goggles, placing them on the bike before walking up to the club.

As she approached the entrance, a chilly evening wind blew, but it did not chill her for one as hot as her, for one who burned like her, it only served to accent her beauty like a wind spreading a flame. It blew open the lapel of her brown, midriff bearing jacket revealing a low-cut, yellow crop top clinging to her ample bust. The gust also picked up the rear hem of her asymmetrical, brown pleated skirt revealing her black short shorts beneath.

The wind blew harder, and the girl placed a cautionary hand up to the orange scarf wrapped around her neck, but shook her hair out. The wind caught her long tresses kicking up the golden, curly mane before dropping it all the way down to the small of her back.

She stopped in front of the club's sliding glass doors and examined her reflection with lilac eyes. She didn't know exactly what she was going to do once she went inside, but she still wanted to look more than presentable. Sure, she was sassy, but there was no reason why she couldn't turn heads at the same time. After all, she was Yang Xiao Long, huntress-in-training, set to attend Vale's own Beacon Academy in the spring.

Yang inspected every bit of herself. The only things she touched up were her brown knee-high leather boots, pulling them snugly up. But she didn't adjust her knee-high orange socks: one was at the knee and the other just above the knee. While scathing eyes may have demanded that she be symmetrical, she preferred the contrast.

Yang tapped the strange metallic wristbands she wore and padded the pouches attached to the belt of her skirt. Everything seemed to be in order. She looked back up at her reflection and smiled. She was going to have fun.

Yang sauntered through the sliding doors into the spacious nightclub converted from an industrial warehouse. She nailed the entrance: her hips wiggled up and down, her back was straight with shoulders pushed back and chest pushed out, and the pièce de résistance was her confident little smirk.

The club was decorated with circular glass pillars here and there, and the patrons had come out in force. The strobes and lasers were in full swing as the DJ, wearing an oversized bear's head, kept pumping out the jams. By a miraculous coincidence, the song being played was "I Burn," an electronic beat that was one of Yang's favorites. She took it as a good sign.

Yang looked to her left and saw her quarry, the owner of Junior's Nightclub, Junior himself. He was at the bar talking to a man dressed in a long white coat with a black bowler and cane. Whatever business they were conducting was concluded as Yang approached. The man in the coat seemed fairly pleased as he strode off, but Junior's mood seemed to have taken a dark turn. He leaned his arms on the bar next to two of his employees, the club's eye candy, the Malachite twins, Miltiades and Melanie. Both wore the same strapless dress with the exception that Miltia wore it in red and Melanie wore it in white.

Yang approached the bar and slyly came to a stop right next to Junior. She saw him dismiss the Malachite sisters out of the corner of her eye. Yang couldn't stop herself from marveling at how tall he was. She barely came up to his shoulders, and even then, it was only the cowlick on top of her head.

"Strawberry Sunrise," said Yang to the bartender, acting casual. "No ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas."

Junior took the bait.

"Aren't you a little young to be in this club, Blondie?"

Yang turned and giggled. "Aren't you a little old to have a name like 'Junior?'"

"So, you know who I am. Ya got a name, sweetheart?"

"Yes, Junior. I've got several. But instead of sweetheart," she said, dragging her finger down his arm in a vampish manner, "you can just call me 'sir!'" she said, her hand grabbing onto Junior somewhere below the belt causing him to squeal in painful surprise.

This was the part Yang hadn't planned, but it served her purpose. "People say you know everything." She pulled out her iScroll and an image of a raven haired woman with red eyes came up on the screen. "Tell me where I can find her, and I'll let you go."

"I've never seen before!" said Junior in a high voice. "I swear!"

Yang squeezed harder. "Excuse me!"

"I swear! Sir!"

A number of Junior's men, employees or henchmen, depending on the day, ran up to the bar. They were all dressed in the same tacky black suit with matching red ties and sunglasses. Each had a black bowler, and they all wielded either a small axe or short curved sword with a red blade.

"Hmm," said Yang unfazed. "Looks like we have an audience. This must be kind of embarrassing for you, huh? Awkward."

"Listen, Blondie! Sir!" Junior quickly added. "If you want to make it out of this club alive, I suggest you let me go. Now!"

Yang got what she needed from him, so she did as Junior said and pocketed her scroll.

Junior let out a sigh of relief. "You'll pay for that," he managed in his regular voice. He began to limp away and tried to save some face by donning his own red sunglasses.

Yang quickly ran after him onto the dance floor. "Oh, Junior. I was just playing with you. Don't be so sensitive. C'mon. Let's kiss and make up, okay?"

"Huh?!"

Yang made a flirty giggle and bent at the hip showing off her cleavage and puckering up.

"Uh… okay." He bent forward.

Just as their lips were about to touch, Yang threw her fist forward and sent Junior flying back across the entirety of the club smashing through several glass pillars. He crashed into the wall next to the entrance and was in a daze. The patrons on the dance floor panicked and ran.

Junior's men charged at Yang and her bracelets expanded into dual-ranged shot-gauntlets covering her entire lower arms and hands. Each gauntlet had twelve rounds of Dust ammo. Yang brought one arm forcefully back and the shotgun-like pump moved back chambering a round.

Junior's men raised their weapons as they got close, but Yang jumped high into the air. At the apex, she waited for gravity to pull her down and she smiled feeling like a hawk looking down at its prey. The song playing in the club reached her favorite lyric, "Yellow beauty burns… gold."

Oh, yes. This was going to be fun.

Yang crashed into the dance floor and her gauntlet went off. There was a fiery blast from the barrel at the end of her fist and it exploded outward throwing all of Junior's men back several feet. She ran at a group of them as they recovered and succeeded in knocking them all out with a combination of well practiced punches accentuated by Dust discharges from her gauntlets.

The next group was some distance away and Yang decided to show off another one of her techniques. She locked her arm and shoulder in place and fired her gauntlet. The force of the discharge sent her backward at incredible speed and her elbow went straight into the stomach of a henchman. Yang showed off this capability again by using the shot from the gauntlet to spin herself around unbelievably fast and kicked another. A third ran up and Yang lambasted him with a series of punches firing her gauntlets each time.

Suddenly, machine gun fire lit up the floor around her. The DJ was still up in his booth and was armed with a gun, the Vale Typewriter. Yang charged and used her gauntlets to give her a boost of speed. She jumped into the booth, kicked the DJ disarming him, smashed his head into the turntables, and then threw him out of the booth giving him a final blast from both gauntlets. He landed unconscious on the dance floor, his giant novelty bear head rolling away.

Yang turned her attention back to the dance floor and saw the Malachite sisters standing there. Miltia had a pair of curved metal claws extending from her fists and Melanie was wearing a pair of weaponized high heels.

"Melanie," said Miltia in a blasé voice, "who is this girl?"

"I don't know, Miltia," replied Melanie in the same tone. Then in a slightly darker one, "Let's teach her a lesson."

Yang grinned at the new challengers. She ejected the spent dust shells from her gauntlets, threw strips of red shells into the air and caught them in her shot gauntlets. She jumped from the DJ booth and shot her gauntlets while still flying. This time, a projectile was fired from them that exploded on contact.

Melanie and Miltia dodged the first salvo. They attacked Yang when she landed, and proved to be worthy adversaries. Melanie managed to cut two of Yang's projectiles in half deflecting them elsewhere.

The twins charged together and managed to beat Yang back. But Yang used her gauntlets to charge back into the thick of things and knocked Melanie away with a point blank blasting punch. On her own, Miltia was a poor opponent being easily countered with an uppercut to the gut and another to the head. She was sent flying and crashed into a glass pillar.

Yang went after Melanie next, but found her much more resourceful. Melanie was a master of kicks and could cut Yang's projectiles from up close. Melanie gained the upper hand and kicked Yang back.

Yang glowered; she wasn't having fun right now. This girl was very skilled and it was to Yang's slight shame that she wasn't as good at kicking as she was at punching. She'd need a new tactic.

Melanie rushed in, but didn't attack immediately. Instead, she played a game of footsies; Melanie teased and taunted Yang with feints to her legs and even just raised her knees to see what Yang would do.

Yang kept retreating, but when Melanie showed her back for a spinning kick, Yang dodged under it, and elbowed her in the stomach. Melanie's equilibrium gone, she was an easy target as Yang grabbed her by the wrist, led her around in a circle around herself, and then Yang finished her off with a kick of her own straight to the face. Melanie fell in defeat.

Yang looked around waiting for her next combatant. He showed up a second later as none other than Junior himself, this time equipped with a bazooka.

"You're gonna pay for this!"

Junior shot the bazooka and the missile split into multiple smaller projectiles. Yang jumped back dodging them, and then rolled forward through the explosion they caused. Junior fired a second time and a second time, the missile split. But this time, Yang shot her gauntlets at the projectiles destroying any that came near her.

Junior transformed the bazooka into a large metal bat and leapt at Yang. She took a defensive posture and while she blocked Junior's hits, she still took three of them from the bat directly.

Junior spun around and hit her a fourth time that she wasn't expecting and was knocked back significantly into a glass stage that shattered.

Yang got up and giggled with a smile. Junior was put off slightly by her confidence and noticed a strange flame-like aura coming from her hair. She was going to show him her secret weapon, her Semblance.

Yang summoned the power she had suffered in the fight into her fists and charged.

Junior shot the bazooka again, but Yang dodged it and went into a punch chain. It was fast, furious, and combined with her shot gauntlets, was quite painful. Yang took a step forward and threw everything she had into a final cross. Junior, before being hit, got to see Yang's soft lilac eyes change to a ferocious red.

Junior was knocked back several feet. He looked at his bazooka—it had been broken in half. But then he looked at his other hand and saw several gold strands in it. He looked at Yang and smiled.

Yang clenched her fists and her tendons snapped. It had all been fun and games. But now… now it was personal.

Yang released her aura to its furthest extent and a flame seemed to burst outwardly from her filling the entire club. She ran forward yelling a battle cry at the top of her lungs and Junior felt a mind-numbing, leg-paralyzing, bladder-emptying fear.

The last punch connected and there was an explosion. All the windows in the club shattered and Junior was thrown out of one landing outside in the street. Yang quickly followed jumping out of the window and landing on her feet behind him.

"Yang?" said a voice. "Is that you?"

Yang looked up and saw a girl wearing a black combat skirt matched with a red riding hood and cloak. "Oh! Hey, sis!"

"What're you doing here?" asked Ruby.

Yang sighed. "It's a long story."

Stalk my everywhere:

Facebook: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar  
Instagram: Bryan C. Laesch

  
Tumblr: Bryan C. Laesch  
Twitter: BryanofallTrade  
Youtube: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar


	5. RWBY: Ruby Rose and the Shining Beacon

Ruby Rose and the Shining Beacon Edited

It was a quiet evening in the Kingdom of Vale. A Dust shop called From Dust Till Dawn was tucked away on one side of the city's streets.

It was growing late, and in preparation for the next day, the old shopkeeper was hard at work cleaning his display cases and sweeping his floors. He looked up at the clock. Only a half hour left before he could close.

He went into the backroom and put his broom, cleaning spray, and rags away when he heard his shop's bell ring. He looked to see who it was and saw a short girl in a black combat skirt paired with a red riding hood and cape walk to the back of the store. The old man smiled. He knew who it was. She was probably just here to check out the new Weapons Monthly. The old man wasn't worried, but he did note a strange crimson metal object hooked onto her lower back.

The shopkeeper still paid it no mind and went back to his nightly cleaning duties. Finally he walked back up to the front desk and started locking his display cases which were full of Dust crystals, the number one energy propellant in the world used in everything from weapons to technology and even used in its rawest form giving its wielders control over the forces of nature.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, there were five shadows just outside his shop window.

Five men strode brazenly in. Four looked like Junior's men from Junior's Club. But the one who led them—there was a dangerous air about him. He had shocking orange hair slicked over one of his eyes with a black bowler on top. He wore a worn white coat over a tacky, outdated suit and he carried a cane with red accents. But the thing that irked the old man most of all was that the man was smoking a cigar in the store.

The five walked up to the front desk and the leader tapped the ash from his cigar onto the display case. The old man gaped.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" asked the man in white.

One of Junior's men pointed a gun at the old man.

"Please!" he begged. "Just take my money and leave!"

The man in white shushed him. "Calm down," he said reassuringly. "We're not here for your money." He smiled. Then turned to Junior's men and demanded, "Grab the Dust."

One of Junior's men produced a case that was taller than it was wide. Inside were two rows of five canisters, each with a nipple on top. Three of the others each grabbed a canister and walked over to the glass tubes of raw Dust lining the store's walls. Each put a canister beneath a different color of Dust and watched as a bar on the side of each canister began to light up telling them when the canister was full.

Another one of Junior's men opened another case and demanded of the shopkeeper, "Crystals. Burn. Uncut."

The old shopkeeper reluctantly reached into his display case and did as he was told.

As Junior's men continued to perpetrate the robbery, one of them could just barely hear muffled music coming from somewhere. He looked toward the back of the store and saw the girl in the red hood reading a magazine.

The thief drew his red-bladed parang and demanded, "All right, kid. Put your hands where I can them!"

The girl didn't respond.

The man sneered. "Hey! I said hands in the air!" He approached the girl and turned her by the shoulder. "You got a death wish or something?!"

The girl's hood came off and she looked at the man surprised.

The man pointed at his ears.

The girl took her head phones off. "Yes?" she said casually.

"I said, put your hands in the air. Now!"

"Are you… robbing me?" asked the girl entertained.

"Yes!" said Junior's man frustrated.

"Oh…" she said slowly. Her lips curled back into a smile.

The rest of Junior's men continued the robbery while the man in white examined a Dust crystal. They heard a battle cry followed by a thump and the one henchman went flying past them and crashed into the front wall.

The man in white nodded at another and he charged the girl. This time a streak of red and mass of black flew past breaking the window out into the street.

The rest of the thieves looked out the window and saw the henchman knocked out cold while the short girl stood up proudly. The red metallic object hooked onto her back was now balanced on her shoulder and it extended into a large mechanical scythe. The haft was at least twice as long as the girl was tall, and its menacing, curved double blade was just as tall as her.

The girl looked at them and gave a confident smirk. She impressively flourished the scythe around hand over hand and arm over arm before bringing it to a stop on her other side letting its blade tip crash into the street.

"Okay…" said the man in white. "Get her."

Junior's men charged the girl. But using the scythe's haft like a balance beam, she spun around it and kicked the first one in the chest with both feet.

The girl landed and held her scythe crossways behind her. She pulled a subtlety hidden trigger on it. A shot was fired and the recoil from the end of the scythe made the girl spin around with such force that when the scythe butt connected with the next henchman he was sent flying.

The third pulled a machine gun and started firing. But the girl kept pulling the trigger on her scythe and used the force of the recoil to dodge the gunfire not once, not twice, but three times. She dodged toward the henchman, swept him up with her scythe and then brought it around again knocking him back to the street. He landed pathetically at the boss' feet.

The man in white looked down. "You were worth every cent. Truly, you were." He took a step forward. "Well Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening." He dropped his cigar on the ground and smothered it with the end of his cane.

"And as much as I'd love to stick around," he continued, pointing his cane at the girl, "I'm afraid _this_ is where we part ways."

The girl gave him a quizzical look. Then the end of his cane opened up and revealed an aiming reticule. The gangster fired a shot from the end of his cane which exploded when it hit the road.

The girl managed to dodge using the recoil from her scythe to jump over the shot. She landed among chunks of broken road and looked for the ruffian. She noticed him behind her climbing a building's fire escape.

He just barely cleared the top of the fire escape as the girl nearly flew to the top of the building using her scythe to propel her.

"Hey!" she called.

He growled. "Persistent little…"

The girl scowled and readied herself for combat when what sounded like an accelerating turbine engine reached her ears. A Bullhead-class airship shot into the night sky from behind the building. The girl recoiled from the wind it kicked up.

A hatch on the side opened up and the man climbed into it.

He turned and shouted, "End of the line, Red!" before throwing a burn crystal at her feet.

He took aim with his cane and fired. There was an explosion and he whooped with joy.

But before the explosion had gone off, a tall figure had dropped in front of the girl. When the smoke and fire cleared, a tall, middle aged woman, with glasses and short blonde hair was standing there holding a riding crop with a purple glyph held up before her to shield her and the girl from the blast.

The man in white growled.

The woman brandished her crop and several purple streaks shot from its end and crashed into the airship making the pilot lose control.

"We've got a huntress!" shouted the man in white to the airship's pilot.

The pilot turned out to be a young woman in a red dress with long black hair. She rushed to the side door as the man in white tried to control the airship.

The huntress shot a purple light into the sky above the airship and a storm manifested. Shards of ice descended from the cloud piercing the ship.

The young woman in red appeared in the side hatch. She took stock of the situation and seemed awfully relaxed. The sleeves on her dress burned revealing embedded Dust. She activated the Dust with her aura and cast a fireball at the huntress.

The huntress defended herself with another glyph splitting the ball into many tiny fragments all over the roof. The young woman raised her hand and the fragments exploded, but the huntress was able to back flip out of it.

The huntress used her psychokinetic powers and gathered the shards of the roof into a deadly spike and launched it at the airship. The young woman fired several blasts from her hands trying to destroy it, but the spike merely reformed and continued on its course.

The man in white, being somewhat clever, tilted the ship and managed to ricochet the spike off the top hull of the ship.

Not to be outdone, the huntress separated the spike into three streams and threatened to slice the ship to bits. But the young woman summoned the fire from her dress and expended it outwardly blasting the streams apart.

The airship was offered a brief respite and began to turn away.

The girl, not willing to let these crooks get away, transformed her scythe into a more compact shape that allowed her to use its embedded rifle more accurately. She charged the bolt and began firing, but the young woman aboard the ship was able to block each shot. She then cast a ring of fire around both the girl and huntress.

The huntress threw the girl out of harm's way with her telekinesis before barely escaping herself.

Finally, the ship's hull closed and flew off into the night. Everything was quiet again.

After a pause, the girl turned to the woman. "You're a huntress? Can I have your autograph?!" she gushed.

Somehow, some time later, the girl found herself on the wrong side of a table in an interrogation room used by Vale's police department.

The middle aged woman paced the room. "I hope you realize your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady," she said sternly. "You put yourself and others in grave danger."

"They started it!"

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back…"

The girl brightened.

"And a slap on the wrist!" The woman punctuated her statement by slamming her riding crop onto the table making the girl yelp in surprise.

"But… there is someone here who would like to meet you."

The girl blinked, and in walked an elderly gentleman of at least sixty. He had grey hair and wore an old-fashioned, but still stylish, three-piece emerald green suit. He had blacked out glasses that sat low on his nose, and carried a mug in one hand and a plate of large chocolate chip cookies in the other.

"Ruby Rose," he said, addressing the girl. He leaned in, "You…"

Ruby raised her eyebrows.

"Have silver eyes."

Ruby looked away confused. "Um?"

"So!" said the distinguished man. "Where did you learn to do this?"

The woman took out a full-sized scroll and pulled up footage of Vale's security footage showing off Ruby's impressive combat skills.

"S-Signal Academy," replied Ruby unsure of whether or not she was still in trouble.

"They taught you how to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" he asked intensely.

"Well, one teacher in particular."

"I see…" he said, placing the plate of cookies before the girl. "Help yourself."

Ruby looked at them both and hesitated. But only for a moment before shoving cookies in her mouth at will. They were delicious. Almost as good as her mother's. In fact, they were strangely similar.

The gentleman continued. "It's just that I've seen only one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A Dusty, old crow…"

"Oh!" chimed the girl, and she tried to speak with her mouth full. She stopped and gave herself a chance to swallow and cleared her throat a little embarrassed. "Sorry. That's my Uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. And now, I'm all like…" Ruby's description devolved into faux karate moves complete with soft kiai and battle cries.

The gentleman smiled at her taking a sip from his mug. He enjoyed her enthusiasm. "So I've noticed." He placed his mug on the table and sat down. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well," Ruby began seriously, "I want to be a huntress."

"You want to slay monsters?"

"Yeah. I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a huntress. And I'm trying to become a huntress because I wanna help people, and my parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, well, might as well make a career out of it." She giggled nervously.

"I mean, the police are all right, but huntsmen and huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and…" Ruby let out an excited squeal. "You know?!"

There was a brief pause. The woman blinked and frowned. But the gentleman's stare was much more pleasant and understanding.

After a while, he asked, "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon."

"Hm," said Ozpin satisfied. "Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

"You want to come to my school?"

"More than anything."

Ozpin exchanged looks with the woman standing next to him. She rolled her eyes.

"Well," began Ozpin, "okay."

Ruby couldn't believe her ears as a euphoric smile crept across her face. She still couldn't believe developments when she was aboard an airship with other students being ferried to Beacon.

Her older sister Yang still wouldn't shut up about it. "This is the best day ever!" she cried, embracing Ruby tightly.

"Please stop…" begged Ruby between crushed lungs.

It was bad enough that Yang was infamous for giving the sort of hugs that could collapse airways, but it was made worse by the fact that she was incredibly strong and topped all her hugs off with the sort of exuberance that can only come from an over doting older sister.

"But I'm so proud of _you_!" said Yang, releasing Ruby. She bounced on the balls of her feet overflowing with enthusiasm.

"Really, sis, it was nothing."

"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the _bee's_ knees!"

"I don't wanna be the bee's knees. Okay? I don't wanna be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl _with_ normal knees."

"What's with you? Aren't you excited?"

"Of course, I'm excited. I just… I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."

Yang cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged and wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulders. "But you _are_ special. A lot of people may only see you as just small and helpless. They may see you as just a child. But they'll be surprised when a warrior soon runs wild."

Ruby thought Yang was overdoing the big sister act, but somewhere deep inside, Yang's argument was hitting home. This only made Ruby feel more torn between trying to appear normal and feeling guilty for not taking Yang's praise.

Suddenly, there was a telecast on the airship. "The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick who continues to evade authorities."

Ruby looked up and recognized the man in the mug shot as being the one she had thwarted at From Dust Till Dawn.

"If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."

"Thank you, Cyril," said a woman with violet hair. "In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted—"

The broadcast was interrupted and a visual of the blonde haired woman from the other night showed up on the screen. "Hello, and welcome to Beacon."

"Who's that?" asked Yang.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch. I'm a professor at Beacon."

"Oh."

Professor Goodwitch continued, "You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntsmen and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it.

"You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task. And now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The visual of Goodwitch disappeared.

"Oh, wow!" said Ruby, rushing over to one of the windows on the ship. The view of Vale's cityscape was breathtaking. "You can see Signal from here," she said to Yang. "I guess home isn't too far after all."

"Beacon's our home now."

There was a groan from the rear of the ship. Yang and Ruby looked and saw a young man with his arm around his stomach and a hand over his mouth. He wore a white breastplate over a blue hoodie and had a messy head of blonde hair. As the airship came to dock at a cliff overlooking a grand lake that was just outside Beacon, the young man ran to depart the airship as fast as possible.

"Well, I guess the view isn't for everyone," commented Yang.

"It was a nice moment while it lasted."

"I wonder who we're going to meet."

That was just like Yang. She loved meeting new people, and had no problems making friends.

"I just hope they're better than Vomit Boy," said Ruby.

Vomit Boy heard her. He twisted to look back at her. Ruby turned red and faced away. Fortunately for her, Vomit Boy had to turn to a waste can just outside the airship with all haste enabling Ruby to sneak past with Yang.

Yang and Ruby made it to the courtyard just outside of Beacon and couldn't stop themselves from a simultaneous gasp of awe. Beacon Academy looked more like a Gothic castle made of alabaster stone than a combat school. It was truly enormous and the CCTS tower, Cross Continental Transmit System, was at the center of it all.

Yang said, "The view from Vale's got nothing on this."

Ruby didn't hear her. She was too busy geeking out over other students' weapons. "Sis! That kid's got a collapsible staff! And she's got a fire sword!"

"Easy, little sister!" chided Yang. "They're just weapons."

"Just weapons?! They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool."

"Well, why can't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?"

"Of course, I'm happy with Crescent Rose," said Ruby. She swung it out and cuddled it like a stuffed toy.

Yang had the feeling Ruby would sleep with it if she could.

"I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people. But… better."

"Ruby! _Come_ on!" Yang said, pulling Ruby's hood over her head. "Why don't you go and try to make some friends of your own?"

"But, why would I need friends when I have you?"

"Well, actually my friends are here now. Gotta go. Kay. See ya! Bye!" And like that, Yang was gone in a flash after some group of people Ruby had never seen before.

"Wait!" she called after her. "Where are you going? Aren't we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms?"

But Yang was gone.

Ruby sighed heavily and stared forlornly along the path that Yang had disappeared. She groaned. "I don't know what I'm doing," she said, collapsing to the ground. Or at least she would have if a luggage cart hadn't slammed into her heel and knocked her back into several large suitcases.

"What're you doing?!" someone shrieked.

Ruby looked up and saw a girl about Yang's age dressed in a white combat skirt complemented by a vest and had long white hair. It had been pulled back into a pony tail, but oddly, not at the back of her head—it was off to the side. Ruby also noted that there were two men in extravagant suits with her helping to transport her luggage.

"Um, sorry!" said Ruby.

"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could've caused?"

"Uh…"

The girl picked up one of her cases checking its contents. She pulled out a glass vial of red Dust. "This is Dust. Mined and purified from the Schnee quarry. What are you? Brain dead? Dust! Fire. Water. Lightning. Energy. Are you even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What do you have to say for yourself?!" the girl demanded, shaking the vial.

Some of the vial's contents escaped and filled Ruby's nostrils. She couldn't stop herself from sneezing which would have been bad enough, except sneezing from the Dust created a fireball that completely engulfed the girl opposite her.

The vial of Dust was thrown across the courtyard into the ankle high boots of another girl who had long black hair and a black bow. She picked up the Dust with mild curiosity before returning to the book she held in her other hand. Finally, she gave the vial a good look and recognized the Schnee family crest.

"Unbelievable!" cried the girl in white. "This _is_ exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

"I'm really, _really_ sorry!" said Ruby, looking at the ground.

"You complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

Ruby hemmed and hawed.

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practicing, you know. We're here to fight monsters, so—watch where you're going!"

"Hey! I said I was sorry, princess!"

Ruby finally had the nerve to look the girl in the eye and noticed a rather nasty scar across her left eye. For such a well primped girl, it was a unique oddity that should have been hidden, or at least attempted to be hidden. It was the girl's only noticeable flaw besides her terrible attitude.

"It's heiress, actually," corrected the girl in the ankle boots. She walked up to them. "Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally! Some recognition," said Weiss, her tone changing.

"The same company," continued the dark haired girl, "infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

"Why you—! How dare—!"

Weiss let out a disgusted sigh and took her vial of Dust before walking off. Her servants attended to her luggage.

Despite her horrendous attitude and seeing how sweet it was for Weiss to get her just desserts, Ruby still felt guilty. "I promise I'll make this up to you!" she called obsequiously. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day.

"So…" said Ruby, turning back to the other girl. But she had already left.

Ruby was depressed. She collapsed. "Welcome to Beacon," she said to herself.

Suddenly, someone's shadow crossed her face.

"Hey. I'm Jaune," said a boy. He offered her his hand.

"Ruby," she said, unsure of whether or not to take it.

She did and Jaune pulled her up.

"Wait. Aren't you Vomit Boy?"

The two walked off together and found themselves alone in a different part of Beacon's enormous and maze-like courtyard.

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on," Jaune explained, defending himself.

"Look, I'm sorry. 'Vomit Boy' was the first thing that came to mind."

"Oh, yeah?! Well what if I called you 'Crater Face?'"

"Hey! That explosion was an accident."

"Yeah. Because like anybody pukes on purpose," said Jaune. "Anyway, the name's Jaune Arc. Short. Sweet. Rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

Ruby stifled a laugh. "Do they?"

"Th-They will! Well, I hope they will. I mean, my mom always says—uh, well, never mind."

Ruby laughed nervously. Desperate to change the topic to anything else, she said, "So, I've got this thing," and pulled out her scythe.

Jaune jumped back. "Whoa! Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle."

"Huh?"

"It's also a gun."

"Oh. That's cool!"

"So what have you got?"

"I got this sword," said Jaune, unsheathing it.

"Ooh!" said Ruby genuinely.

"I've also got a shield." Jaune took the sheathe off his belt and it expanded outwards in both directions into a classic shield.

"So, what do they do?"

"Um, the shield gets smaller," explained Jaune as it did so. "So, when I get tired of carrying it, I can just… put it away."

"But…" said Ruby, grabbing onto the obvious logical problem, "wouldn't it weigh the same?"

"Yeah," said Jaune, sounding defeated.

"Well, um, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons. I guess I did go a little overboard in designing mine."

"Wait! You made that?"

"Of course! All the students at Signal forge their own weapons. Didn't you make yours?"

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it back in the war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me. But, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune bolstered. "The classics."

"So why did you help me out?"

Jaune sheathed his sword. "Enh, why not? My mom always says, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'"

"Hm. By the way, where are we going?"

"Oh, I don't know. I was following you." Looking around, Jaune asked, "Do you think there's a directory or food court around here?"

Ruby stifled another laugh.

"Is that a 'no?'"

"That's a 'no.'"

Eventually, Jaune and Ruby found their way to Beacon's auditorium. New students were milling about everywhere waiting for the headmaster to make his opening statement.

"Ruby!" called out Yang, waving. "Over here!"

"Hey," said Ruby, turning to Jaune, "I gotta go. I'll see you after the ceremony."

"Hey, wait!" called Jaune after her. He groaned. "Great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?" He stomped off with his shoulders slumped forward. "Every time I think I'm getting somewhere, they always leave. My luck with women is terrible."

Jaune looked at the floor and continued to curse his luck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a girl wearing bronzed greaves over knee high boots. He looked up and briefly made eye contact with a tall, beautiful girl with long, red hair wearing a golden circlet and bronze breastplate with a red miniskirt. She gave him a smile and a little wave. But that was lost on Jaune.

Ruby joined Yang but gave her the cold shoulder. She hadn't forgotten what Yang had done.

Sensing the tension, Yang asked, "How's your first day going, little sister?"

"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?!"

"Yikes. Meltdown already?"

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school. And there was some fire, and I think some ice."

Yang smiled. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"I wish! I fell over some crappy girl's luggage and then she yelled at me. And then I sneezed, and then I exploded! And then she yelled again. And I felt really bad and I just wanted her to stop."

"You!" said a shrill voice from behind Ruby.

"Oh, god!" cried Ruby, jumping into Yang's arms. "It's happening again!"

"You were lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff," continued Weiss.

"Oh my god," replied Yang. "You really exploded."

"It was an accident!" cried Ruby, jumping down.

Weiss stuck a pamphlet in front of Ruby's face titled "Dust For Dummies."

"What's this?"

"The Schnee Dust Company isn't responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee company product…."

Weiss continued to ramble off the fine print legalities while Ruby just stared at the pamphlet blankly wondering if this situation could get any worse.

"You really want to start making things up to me?"

"Absolutely."

Weiss shoved the pamphlet into Ruby's hands. "Read this, and don't ever speak to me again."

"Look…" began Yang, "it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"

"Yeah! Great idea, sis. Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies."

"Yeah!" said Weiss excitedly. "And we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys like… tall, blonde, and scraggly over there."

Weiss jerked her thumb in Jaune's direction. He took notice.

"Wow! Really?"

Weiss gave a consummate glare. "No."

At last, Ozpin appeared on the front stage and cleared his throat. "I'll keep this brief. You've travelled here today in search of knowledge—to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you've finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see… is wasted energy, in need of purpose."

Yang's eyes narrowed. She had plenty of purpose if someone just cared to ask.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only take you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Ozpin stepped aside and Glynda stepped up.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed."

Yang noted, "He seemed kind of… off."

"Almost like he wasn't even there," added Ruby.

Jaune suddenly materialized next to Weiss. "I'm a natural blonde, you know."

She facepalmed.

Later that night, all the new students had gathered in the ballroom as instructed. Bedrolls had been laid out for them. They changed into their pajamas and started going to bed, but some still milled around.

"It's like a big slumber party!" said Yang, flinging herself down next to Ruby.

"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys though," observed Ruby, writing something.

"I know I do!" Yang looked up and saw several flexing their muscles, stretching, and horsing around. She growled amorously at them. But when Jaune walked into her line of sight wearing footie pajamas, she grimaced. "Ugh. What's that?" she said to Ruby.

"A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

"Aw! That's so _cute_!"

"Shut up!" cried Ruby. She pelted Yang in the face with a pillow. "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's weird not knowing anyone here."

"What about Jaune? He's… nice. There you go! Plus one friend. That's a hundred percent increase!"

"Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero."

"There's no such thing as negative friends," said Yang, her mood not dampening at all. "You've just made one friend and one enemy."

Yang got another pillow, this time in the shape of a Corgi head, thrown in her face.

"Look," she said, becoming serious, "it's only been one day. Trust me. You've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet."

Ruby doubted that, but before she could really think on it, a flickering light distracted her out of the corner of her eye. Over by the wall was the girl with the dark hair and bow reading a book by candlelight.

"That girl."

"You know her?"

"Not really. She saw what happened this morning but left before I could say anything."

"Welp, now's your chance!"

Yang bounded onto her feet and pulled Ruby with her.

"Wait! What are you doing?!"

They approached the dark haired girl with all the subtlety of a dump truck.

"Hell-o!" said Yang in a sing-song type of voice. "I believe you two may know each other."

The girl said to Ruby, "Aren't you that girl that exploded?"

"Uh, yeah. My name's Ruby," she said, extending her hand.

The girl didn't seem interested.

"But… uh, you can just call me Crater Fac… actually, you can just call me Ruby."

"Okay," said the girl, continuing to read.

Yang whispered to Ruby, "What are you doing?"

"I don't know! Help me!"

Yang turned back to the girl. "So! What's your name?"

The girl sighed. "Blake."

"Well Blake, I'm Yang. Ruby's older sister."

Blake gave them a hard stare. They were sisters? One was tall with long blond hair, and the other was sort of short with short black hair and dark red highlights. Were they adopted?

"I like your bow!" said Yang.

"Thanks…"

"It goes great… with your pajamas."

"Right…"

"Nice night, don't ya think?"

"Yes!" said Blake, her patience wearing thin. "It's lovely. Almost as lovely as this _book_."

The sisters stayed where they were.

"That I will continue to read. As soon as you _leave_!"

"Yeah," said Yang. "This girl's a lost cause."

"What's it about?" asked Ruby.

"Huh?"

"Your book. What's the title?"

"Well… it's about a man with two souls each fighting for control over his body."

"Oh, yeah," said Yang uninterested. "That's real lovely."

"I love books," said Ruby. "Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters. They're one of the reasons I want to be a huntress."

"Why is that?" asked Blake, half laughing. "Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

"I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. As someone who fought for what was right and protected those who couldn't protect themselves."

"That's very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately," said Blake, tuning sad, "the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

"Well, that's why we're here," reasoned Ruby. "To make it better."

Yang couldn't stop herself. "Oh! I'm so proud of my baby sister!" She embraced Ruby in one of those near death inducing hugs.

"Cut it out!" said Ruby, slugging Yang.

Blake giggled. "Well, Ruby, Yang. It's been—"

"What in the world is going on around here?!" said Weiss, suddenly appearing. "Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?"

"Aw! Not you again!" cried Yang.

Ruby shushed them. "Guys! She's right. People are trying to sleep."

"Oh!" said Weiss disgusted. " _Now_ you're on my side."

"I was always on your side!"

"Yeah! What's your problem with my sister?" demanded Yang.

Weiss stomped. "She's a hazard to my health!"

Blake blew out her candle and walked away. They'd probably be squabbling for a while, and tomorrow was a big day for them all. Blake wanted to get an early start, but as she headed for her bedroll, she couldn't stop herself from thinking fondly about Ruby and Yang. One was living her dream and doing it for the right reasons. And the other was trying to help her along, picking her up when she stumbled. If only more people were like them.

Weiss Schnee on the other hand—that girl… was still a problem.


	6. RWBY: The First Step

Ruby was catapulted into the air. The feeling of the wind ripping past her face and the sight of the forest expanding out under her was exhilarating. Until she crashed into a tiny fowl.

"Birdie! No!"

But she quickly got over it realizing the bird to be a Nevermore. A small flock was coming right at her. She took out Crescent Rose and opened it into its rifle configuration and started firing.

Once the Nevermores had been dealt with, she began to fall. Ruby saw a high tree branch on a direct course with her. She opened her scythe and used its blade to swing around dispensing of her excess fall energy before dropping to the forest floor.

She burst into a run and the only thing on her mind was finding Yang. Ozpin's proposal that she be partners with the first person she made eye contact with was highly unusual and didn't seem fair at all. Weren't you supposed to make regular eye contact with people when you met them? So why force partners based on a social norm?

In case she didn't run into Yang, Ruby started ticking off all the people she knew. "Well, there's always Jaune. He's nice. He's funny. But I don't think he's very good in a fight," she said, imagining Jaune being eaten by Beowolves.

"Oh! What about Blake? So mysterious; so calm. Plus she reads books! Then again, I'm not sure I would be able to hold a conversation with her." Ruby could just imagine Blake trying to back away from her.

"Okay. Who else do I know in this school? There's Yang, Jaune, Blake, and…"

Ruby saw someone in the distance and skidded to a halt right behind them—it was her worst nightmare. And to Ruby's dismay, Ruby was also Weiss' worst nightmare.

Once Weiss saw her, they made eye contact.

Weiss quickly walked off in the other direction.

"Wait!" called Ruby. And then to the ground disheartened, "We're supposed to be teammates."

Weiss however wouldn't hear of it. She preferred to trip through the underbrush to find someone else. After a few seconds though, she came to a large tree. She heard someone struggling and looked up. How had that idiot Jaune managed to land safely? He hadn't. Weiss quickly recognized Pyrrha Nikos' spear in the top of his hoodie securing him to the trunk of tree.

Jaune looked down and pathetically waved at her hoping for some help.

Weiss was between a rock and a hard place. Given those options, she went with the lesser of two evils and turned back to Ruby.

"You came back!" cheered Ruby.

"By no means does this make us friends," said Weiss as she grabbed Ruby by the shoulder and dragged her the other way.

Jaune shouted, "Hey! Come back! Who's going to get me down from here?"

"Jaune?" called a lilting, feminine voice.

He looked down at Pyrrha.

"Do have any spots left on your team?"

"Very funny," said Jaune, crossing his arms. After a moment though, he looked at her sideways and smiled.

Pyrrha smirked back at him.

As Weiss continued to drag Ruby through the forest, Ruby was forced to ask, "What's the hurry?"

"I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow. I swear, if I get a bad grade because—"

Suddenly, there was a mad brush of wind and Ruby appeared in front of Weiss pawing the air.

"I'm not slow!" bragged Ruby. "You don't have to worry about me." Her semblance was in fact speed.

"Wait. What the—?"

"Weiss, just because I don't know how to exactly deal with people, doesn't mean that I don't know how to deal with monsters. You're gonna see a whole different side to me today."

Ruby threw her arm around Weiss' shoulders. "And after it's all over, you're gonna be like, 'Wow, that Ruby girl is really, really cool. And I wanna be her friend.'" Ruby zipped off again. For some reason, rose petals were kicked up in her wake.

"You may be fast," called Weiss, "but you still excel at wasting time."

Suddenly, there was a growl.

Weiss looked nervous and could feel dozens of eyes on her. "Ruby?"

No answer.

"Ruby?" she said more quietly.

Just then, a large Beowolf jumped out of the bushes.

"Ruby!"

The pack surrounded Weiss before she could act.

Without Ruby around, Weiss would have to hold them on her own. She slowed her breathing, drew Myrtenaster, her multi-action Dust rapier, and tried to remember her training.

"Head up, shoulders back, left foot forward—not that forward!" She drew her foot back a little. "Wait for the right time to strike, and…"

Myrtenaster possessed a revolving cylinder, much like any revolver. It rotated to fire Dust and Weiss pulled a trigger filling the blade with it. She charged.

But before she could land a hit, Ruby materialized in front of her and slew a Beowolf.

Weiss panicked, and tripped trying to stop. She waved her blade wildly and a streak of fire was expelled from Myrtenaster. It shot forward and hit a large tree setting it ablaze.

Ruby glanced back at her.

Another Beowolf took advantage of her split attention and whacked her into Weiss.

"Hey! Watch it."

"Excuse me!" said Weiss. "You attacked out of turn. I could've killed you." She seemed rather lax about it.

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that."

Ruby rearmed Crescent Rose with a fresh magazine and prepared to face the pack which had now turned into a horde.

But then the flaming tree fell and Weiss had a different idea.

"We have to leave!"

She grabbed Ruby and ran just as the grass erupted in a huge conflagration. The infuriated howls of the Beowolves could be heard for miles.

Once at a safe distance, Ruby turned on Weiss. "What was that?! That should've been easy!"

"Well perhaps, if you had exercised the _slightest_ amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I'm just surprised that someone who talks so much can communicate so little during an encounter."

"Well, I'm sorry that you need my help to win a fight. I'm just _fine_ on my own."

"Well congratulations on being the strongest _child_ to sneak your way into Beacon. Bravo," said Weiss, leaving.

Ruby was so annoyed with Weiss she took out Crescent Rose and cut down a nearby tree with a single slash.

She begrudgingly followed Weiss as a giant black feather flittered down to the forest floor behind her.


	7. RWBY: Players and Pieces

Back on the cliff overlooking the forest, both Glynda and Ozpin held full-sized Scrolls, monitoring the students.

"Our last pair has been formed, sir," said Glynda. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy. I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still… he's probably better off than Miss Nikos."

"Hm."

"I don't care what his transcriptions say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. But, I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple in just a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?"

Ozpin didn't reply. He was busy watching footage of Ruby and Weiss.

Ruby sat on the ground tearing up grass and picking up leaves while Weiss paced back and forth.

"It's definitely this way," said Weiss. Then a little later, walking in the opposite direction, "I mean, this way. It's definitely this way." Weiss returned and stood in front of Ruby. "It's official; we passed it."

Ruby stood, fed up. "Ugh! Why can't you just admit you have no idea where we're going?"

"Because I know exactly where we're going. We're going to… the forest temple!"

"Ugh!"

"Oh, stop it! You don't know where we are, either."

"Well, at least I'm not pretending like I know everything."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a big, stupid jerk, and I hate you!"

Weiss groaned this time. "Just keep moving."

Ruby mocked her. "'Oh, just keep moving. Hurry up. Wah. Watch where you're going.' Why are you so bossy?!"

"I'm not bossy! Don't say things like that."

"Stop treating me like a kid."

"Stop acting like a kid."

"Well, stop acting like you're perfect!"

"I'm! Not! Perfect!" Then in a lower and more sinister tone, "Not yet anyway. But I'm still leagues better than you." Weiss walked off.

Ruby was on the verge of tears. "You don't even know me…"

Deeper in the forest, Yang and Blake crested a hill overlooking some ruins. Within the ruins, there seemed to be several pedestals arranged in a semi-circle with some sort of tiny object on each one.

Yang turned to Blake. "Think this is it?"

Blake gave Yang an indescribable look before heading down the hill. Yang couldn't tell if Blake was criticizing her or just didn't care.

They descended the hill and walked into the ruins examining the relics on the stone pedestals.

"Chess pieces…?" said Blake.

Yang observed, "Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Well, I guess we should pick one."

Yang grabbed a white knight. "How about a cute little pony?!"

"Sure," said Blake with a blasé shrug.

"That wasn't too hard."

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find."

Elsewhere in the forest, Jaune and Pyrrha were having a difficult time finding the temple. They came to a cave face which had some strange paintings on the outside of it. They depicted a large scorpion and several human looking figures.

"Think this is it?" asked Jaune.

Pyrrha shrugged.

"Well, let's try it anyway."

Jaune found a stick and made a rudimentary, but reliable torch. Pyrrha was impressed.

As they walked through the cavern, Pyrrha started having her doubts. The cave's painting had seemed like a warning to her. In her adventures, Pyrrha had come across a creature of Grimm that looked like a scorpion, but could there be one in the cave? And what's more, could it be as big as the cave painting suggested?

Pyrrha's doubts surfaced. "I don't think this is it."

Jaune sighed. "Pyrrha. I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for five more feet?" Taking his eyes off the ground, Jaune tripped and dropped the torch in a puddle, plunging them into darkness. Jaune looked at her sideways before getting up.

Pyrrha's eyes shifted. "Do you feel that?"

"Soul-crushing regret?"

"No. It's… warm."

"Think we should keep going?"

"I don't think—"

But Jaune had already started walking away. Pyrrha followed.

They soon came across a floating, glowing object. It was spiked on one end and bulbous on the other.

"That's the relic!" said Jaune.

He went to grab it and it moved.

"Hey! Bad relic."

Jaune went to grab it again and again it moved back.

Jaune jumped on it. "Gotcha!"

But the relic seemed to be moving upward and taking Jaune with it.

"Jaune…" said Pyrrha warningly.

Suddenly, the red face and eyes of a Deathstalker, a giant scorpion Grimm, appeared. Jaune screamed like a little girl.

Pyrrha dashed out of the cave with the Deathstalker hot on her heels. She turned, drawing her sword and shield, Miló and Akoúo̱.

Jaune whined, "Pyrrha! This is not the relic! It's not!" he sobbed.

"Jaune! Whatever you do, just don't let…"

The Deathstalker whipped the end of its tail and Jaune was sent flying.

"…go."

Pyrrha considered the Grimm for a second and decided to flee.

Back at the temple, Yang had heard a scream. "Blake! Did you hear that? Some girl is in trouble. What do we do?"

But, Blake's head was craned up to the sky.

"Blake! Did you hear me?"

Blake turned to Yang, and for a split second, Yang thought she saw Blake's bow twitch. But that didn't make sense; she wrote it off as the wind.

Blake pointed up to the sky as a cry of "Heads up!" was quickly descending. Yang looked up and saw what she thought was Ruby coming right at her. But then something else, or rather, someone else, collided with Ruby and they both landed in a tree.

"Ow!" said Ruby. "What was that?" she said, dazed from both impacts.

Jaune cleared his throat. "Hey, Ruby." He was comically stuck upside down in some of the tree's brambles.

On the ground, Blake asked, "Did your sister just fall from the sky?"

"I…"

They heard an explosion from the far side of the clearing and jumped when they saw several trees fall as a giant Grimm lumbered out of the forest before dying. A girl in pink with bobbed orange hair rolled out from behind it.

"Aw…" said Nora. "It's broken."

Ren popped out from behind the bear-like monster. "Nora," he said, out of breath.

But when he looked up, Nora wasn't there. She had already sped away into the ruins and was examining a white rook piece. She picked it up with enthusiasm and balanced it on her head. "I'm queen of the castle!" she sung. "I'm queen of the castle!"

"Nora!" shouted Ren.

Nora giggled and tilted her head so the rook fell into her hand. "Coming, Ren!"

Blake and Yang were bewildered.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" asked Blake.

"I…"

Then they heard another crash and saw Pyrrha barreling out of the forest with a Deathstalker hot on her tail, knocking over trees in its way.

"Jaune!" she called.

"Pyrrha!" he answered. He then looked at Ruby for some help. "Ruby!" he called after her as she dove out of the tree.

"Ruby!" said Yang.

"Yang!" said Ruby.

They went to hug.

But then, "Nora!" said Nora, popping up between them.

Blake looked at Pyrrha. "Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?"

Yang was frustrated and decided to the let the world know it. "I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"

Two seconds passed. Only Ren running up happened.

"Um, Yang?" said Ruby. She pointed into the sky.

Weiss was still in the air, clutching to the talon of the giant Nevermore that both she and Ruby had "ridden" to that part of the forest.

"How could you leave me?!"

"I said jump," replied Ruby.

"She can't hear you from here," noted Blake. "And, she's going to fall."

"She'll be fine."

"She's falling," Ren said.

Jaune, who had managed to get himself out of the brambles, saw Weiss fall, and he saw his opportunity to be her dashing hero.

He jumped from the branch and caught her. "Just dropping in?" he said as smoothly as he could. Unfortunately, he didn't have a landing strategy prepared and started freaking out again as the ground came closer.

The two hit the ground with Jaune under Weiss.

"My hero…" she quipped, checking her nails.

He wailed, "My back…"

Pyrrha suffered a blow from the Deathstalker and landed face first before everyone else.

"Great!" said Yang. "The gang's all here. Now we can die together."

"Not if I can help it!" said Ruby, charging the Deathstalker. She took out her scythe and shot forward.

The monster merely whacked her back with one of its pincers. Seeing that it was stronger than she had figured, Ruby retreated back to the group.

"Ruby!" called Yang, dashing to defend her.

Ruby was still feeling the effects of her crash into Jaune and the tree. As a result, she couldn't focus on using her speed to reach Yang and she didn't see the giant Nevermore begin to overtake her.

The Nevermore closed in, and flapped its wings so hard, feathers shot out of them landing quill first into the ground. One impaled Ruby's cape to the ground and stopped her.

Yang was forced to stop also as the Nevermore's attack filled the field with giant feathers. "Ruby! Get out there!"

"I'm trying!" Ruby pulled on her cape, but it wouldn't come loose or even tear.

The Deathstalker closed in and raised its tail. It struck when a flash of white and a chill wind blew past Ruby.

"You are _so_ childish!"

Weiss stood and a sheet of ice grew where her sword touched the ground, stopping the Deathstalker's stinger.

"And dim-witted! And hyperactive! And don't _even_ get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose, I can be a bit… difficult. But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So, if you quit trying to show off, I'll be…" Weiss inhaled sharply, "nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off," said Ruby. "I want you to know that I can do this."

"You're fine," said Weiss, walking back to the ruins.

Ruby sighed and prayed, "Normal knees, please."

She managed to pull her cape free and rose just in time to be smothered in another one of Yang's beastly hugs. The other problem with those hugs was that Yang was superbly well-endowed and Ruby's face barely cleared her chest.

"I'm so happy you're okay!" said Yang.

The Nevermore cawed from the sky.

"Guys!" said Jaune with a quake in his voice. "That thing's circling back. What are we going to do?"

"Look," said Weiss, "there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." She motioned toward the Chess pieces.

"She's right," said Ruby. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live," said Jaune. "That is a plan I can get behind."

Ruby looked at the artifacts and picked up a white knight as Jaune grabbed a white rook. They looked at each other and smiled confidently.

"Time we left," said Ren, after seeing the Deathstalker was beginning to free itself from the ice wall.

"Right. Let's go!" said Ruby, leading the charge back to the cliffs.

Yang remained where she was, watching her sister.

Blake asked, "What is it?"

"Nothing," she said with a contented sigh.

The group of eight rushed on. Ruins of an ancient structure, either an amphitheater or of some sort of city were on either side of them. And ahead of them, before the cliff they had been catapulted off, was another set of ruins that included a tower and a complex of multiple pillars and bridges crossing a deep expanse.

The Nevermore overtook them and perched atop the tower. They split up on either side of the ruined street and took cover.

"Well, that's great," quipped Yang.

There was a crash from behind. The Deathstalker had released its stinger and was charging straight for them.

"Oh, man!" said Jaune. "Run!"

They fled the ruins and made their way toward the tower.

Ren said, "Nora! Distract it."

Nora dove from out of cover and took out her Magnhild, a giant hammer that could transform into a grenade launcher. She dodged giant quills and started bombarding the Nevermore. One grenade hit it, and it took to flight, leaving the tower behind.

The Deathstalker approached from behind, but Blake and Ren dashed across it, striking it with their blades, distracting it long enough for Weiss to grab Nora and use one of her glyphs to propel them into a powerful enough jump to escape.

Upon reaching the first ruined bridge, Pyrrha urged them to advance while taking out her sword and transforming it into its rifle form. She kneeled and laid down suppressive fire at the scorpion.

Ren, Blake, and Nora caught up, but as the entire group began crossing the first bridge, the Nevermore came back and crashed into the already severely weakened pillars holding it up. The bridge broke apart and the group split into two: Jaune, Weiss, Nora, Ruby, and Yang on the tower side, and Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other, facing the Deathstalker.

Jaune looked at the others fighting the Deathstalker. "Man! We have to get over there!" he told Nora. "They need help!"

"Let's do this!"

Jaune looked at the empty space where the bridge had been. "Yeah, but… I can't make that jump."

Nora gave him a sinister smile. She whacked him backward with her grenade launcher, transformed it into her mighty hammer with a haft as tall as her and a head the size of a man's. She turned and jumped, hitting the end of the bridge with all her might. The bridge broke, and Jaune was catapulted across the way. Nora took care of herself, pulling a trigger on the hammer and blasting her way over to the other side.

Jaune and Nora flew over the heads of the others.

Nora brought her hammer down on the Deathstalker's head with an enthusiastic "Ka-smash!" She pulled the trigger at the same time and the Deathstalker's head was pounded into the ground.

Nora leapt backward to dodge its stinger and accidentally knocked Blake off the end of the bridge.

As Blake fell, she transformed her Gambol Shroud from its katana form into its firearm-kusarigama state and fired it. The blade was embedded into a section of bridge and the long ribbon attached to it allowed Blake to swing down and around.

The Nevermore came across her path. She unhooked her blade and used her Semblance to create a shadow copy of herself to gain some distance and move into attack position. She appeared in front of the Nevermore, and started hacking and slashing with both katana and sheath, but neither seemed to make a difference.

She ran down its back, slashing as she went, and jumped. She landed on the ruined tower alongside Weiss, Ruby, and Yang.

"It's tougher than it looks," Blake said as it circled around.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" urged Yang, pumping her Ember Celica.

The Nevermore circled around for another pass. The four girls, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, unleashed a salvo of Dust energies and projectiles at the incoming bird. It took some damage, but still came right at them. It collided with the tower, destroying it and forcing the girls to fight their way up the crumbling wreckage before they could plummet into the chasm below.

"None of this is working," said Weiss as she and Ruby landed on a bridge.

Ruby looked around. She took in the numerous pillars, Blake's Gambol Shroud, and saw Yang fire repeatedly at the Nevermore from atop one of the pillars. Something began to tick in her head.

"I have a plan."

Meanwhile, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren continued to fight the Deathstalker. It struck at the bridge segment on which they stood. It crumbled and began to teeter in their direction. They ran to the other side where it would rest on solid ground, but still had the Deathstalker to contend with. Their only hope was a desperate charge straight through.

Pyrrha reached it first, and it struck with its pincer. She blocked and transformed her gun into a sword, striking the pincer away. The scorpion countered with its other pincer, but Jaune jumped in the way and defended Pyrrha with his shield.

Ren advanced, firing his Storm Flower. The Deathstalker lashed out with its stinger which Ren lithely dodged and grabbed onto. As the beast brought its tail back up, Ren went with it. He fired at the joint attaching the stinger to the tail.

Nora decided this would be a good time to fire her grenade launcher at the monster. It shielded itself with its pincers, but Pyrrha transformed her sword into a javelin and threw it into one of the monster's eyes. The Deathstalker screamed and did a full body jerk, throwing Ren off the end of its tail.

Jaune looked up and saw the stinger dangling. He looked at Pyrrha and she nodded. She threw her shield at it and cut the stinger off having it land in the Grimm's head, but not with enough force to kill it. Pyrrha's shield ricocheted off a ruin, and she caught it.

Jaune looked back at Nora. "Nail it!"

"Heads up!" said Nora to Pyrrha as she jumped into the air. Pyrrha caught both her and her hammer on top of her shield.

There was a second's anticipation as Pyrrha squatted before jumping, and Nora blasting off herself. She flew into the air and giggled at her apex. She fell and fired her hammer again on the way down and drove the Deathstalker's stinger through its head. She hit it with such force that the last bit of bridge catapulted both Jaune and Pyrrha to safety past the Deathstalker.

Nora fired her hammer one last time simultaneously launching herself in their wake and sending the Deathstalker to the chasm below.

They each landed on terra firma in their own way: Jaune on his back, Nora on her behind, and Pyrrha kneeling. Ren ran up to them and couldn't stop from passing out.

They looked back at the cliff and saw the Nevermore still aflight, circling Yang. She kept up her bombardment only managing to hit it a few times. One shot hit its head and it went directly for her, beak open.

Yang jumped into its mouth. Using one hand to hold it open, she started firing with the other. "I! Hope! You're! Hun! Gry!"

The Nevermore cawed in pain, and Yang thought she felt its body droop. It began to lose air as Yang glanced back and saw the cliff wall quickly closing. She jumped out of the monster's beak and let the Nevermore crash into the cliff.

The Nevermore fell onto another set of ruins and screeched. It flapped its wings to take off, but something white flashed by Yang and leapt into the air. With a graceful spin and a well aimed thrust, Weiss grew another wall of ice, freezing the Nevermore's tail feathers to the ruins. She back flipped away.

Back along the bridge, Blake grabbed onto one pillar near the top and fired her Gambol Shroud across to another where Yang caught it, and they pulled the ribbon taut. Ruby jumped onto the blade of her scythe and into the center of the ribbon, pushing it back as Weiss created a black glyph to catch the ribbon and store its kinetic energy.

"Of course, you would come up with this idea," said Weiss.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.

Weiss gave a confident nod. "Can I?"

Ruby looked worried for a second. "Can you—?"

"Of course, I can!"

Ruby charged her rifle, and Weiss transformed the glyph to red, releasing the ribbon.

Ruby shot forward with incredible speed, firing Crescent Rose to keep her speed. She caught the Nevermore by the neck and forced it back onto the cliff side where a series of white glyphs had appeared allowing Ruby to stick to the wall and then defy gravity as she ran up the cliff with all her might, still firing her scythe and yelling at the top of her lungs.

Ruby made it to the top of the cliff where the bird's head caught on an outcrop of rocks. Ruby fired her scythe and savagely decapitated it. With a flip and a flourish, she landed on the cliff on her knee and her scythe balanced along her shoulders.

"That was for you, Mom," she whispered. "Nothing ever takes the place of you."

Much later in the day, the eight combatants returned to Beacon's auditorium. The ceremony for forming teams had already started, and they were fashionably late. But even still, there was a great buzz about them. Someone had witnessed their battle at the cliffs, and rumors were beginning to spread like wildfire.

"Is that them? The guys who defeated a gigantic Nevermore and Deathstalker?!"

"It is?"

"No wonder they succeeded. They have Pyrrha Nikos."

"Dolt. I heard she had a bit part. It's the cute one in red you should be looking at."

Yang twisted her head around. She saw someone point at Ruby, but Ruby hadn't taken notice. Yang just smiled.

Ozpin was on the stage as a monitor above showed the names and faces of each team as it was created. Four boys were up there now.

"Russell Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Cardinal."

The letters C, R, D, and L showed up on the screen.

"Led by… Cardin Winchester."

Everyone in the auditorium applauded.

Then Ozpin called out, "Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie."

They joined Ozpin onstage.

"The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Juniper."

J, N, P, and R appeared on the screen.

"Led by… Jaune Arc."

Jaune jumped. "Led by?"

"Congratulations, young man."

Pyrrha gave Jaune a punch of solidarity in the arm.

"Hey! Don't hit me."

Pyrrha giggled.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long."

The girls took the place of Team JNPR.

"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Ruby."

R, W, B, and Y appeared on the screen.

"Led by… Ruby Rose."

Weiss gave a small start while Ruby seemed surprised herself.

Yang crushed Ruby in another hug. "I'm so proud of you!"

Ozpin remarked, "Looks like things are shaping up to be an interesting year."


	8. RWBY: The Badge and the Burden

The next morning, Weiss woke up contented as could be as just the right amount of sunlight brushed her eyes. She stretched and felt very refreshed. Everything in the world was pleasant, until Ruby blew a loud whistle in her ear causing her to fall to the ground.

"Good morning, Team RWBY!"

"What in the world is wrong with you?" asked Weiss from the floor.

After yesterday's events, they were moved onto campus and shown to their dorm. They had been fairly exhausted and decided to sleep off the rest of the day and into the next morning.

Weiss looked around and was astonished to find that she was the only one still a-bed. The other three were already dressed in their three piece uniforms consisting of a vest and suit coat matched with a red-and-black plaid skirt.

"Now, that you're awake, we can officially begin our first order of business."

"Excuse me?"

"Decorating!" said Yang with an armful of stuff.

"What?!"

"We still have to unpack," added Blake, holding her suitcase before it burst open and dumped its contents on the floor. "And… clean."

Ruby blew her whistle again. "All right! Weiss! Blake! Yang! And their fearless leader Ruby, have begun their first mission." Ruby threw her fist in the air. "Banzai!"

Blake and Yang did the same. "Banzai!"

Simultaneously, all three girls bent at the hip and tilted to the left. Weiss was not-so-secretly irritated. But, there was nothing she could do other than get dressed and help.

When she came out of the bathroom, Yang had already hung a poster of the boy band, The Achieve Men. Their members were split into two smaller fan groups called the Lads and the Gents. The Lads were composed of Browny, Nosey, and Ruby's favorite, Ragey—he made her laugh. Yang however was a fan of Nosey; his big nose and funny voice was endearing to her. The Gents were composed of Beardy, Crazy, and Drinky. Ruby and Yang's Uncle Qrow always said he liked Drinky best, but would never say why.

To balance out the pop poster, Weiss hung one of her favorite art pieces from home. It depicted the Forest of Forever Fall as it looked in every season. Funnily enough, there was only one image and not four.

Blake meanwhile organized their books. It was going well, until Blake was shocked to discover she had brought one of her more scandalous tales _Ninjas of Love_ with her. She slinked away and tried to hide it.

Ruby used her scythe to hang a curtain over the window by Weiss' bed. Weiss gave her a dirty look when she finished.

The four girls stepped back and were shocked to find that in the effort to decorate their room, their beds, tables, and chairs had been thrown around and piled precariously.

"This isn't going to work," said Weiss.

Blake noted, "It is a bit cramped."

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff," suggested Yang.

"Or!" began Ruby, "And hear me out! What if we ditched our beds and replaced them with bunk beds?!"

Weiss looked at the beds. Several problems flew through her head as well as a certain memory of something her older sister once said to her. "That sounds incredibly dangerous."

"And super awesome," said Yang.

"It does seem efficient," Blake added.

Weiss grabbed at straws. "Well, we should put it to a vote."

"I think we just did," said Ruby.

Three for and one against. Again, Weiss was not-so-secretly irritated, but could not fight the democratic system.

Team RWBY set to work and made their bunk beds in the fastest and most efficient way they could. Blake's and Yang's beds were on one side of the room and stacked on top of each other. Four separate stacks of books were placed on top of each of the four posts on Blake's bed supporting Yang's. Ruby however was more creative and secured ropes to the ceiling, wrapping them around her bed and suspending it above Weiss'.

"Objective complete," said Ruby.

Weiss worried that her own mortality rate had just dropped by several decades and hoped Ruby used strong ropes.

"All right. Our second order of business is… classes." Ruby checked their schedule. "Now, we have a few classes together today. At nine, we've got—"

"What?!" shrieked Weiss. "Did you say nine-o-clock?!"

Ruby faltered.

"It's 8:55, you dunce!"

"Uh… to class!"

Team RWBY dashed out of their room and was quickly followed by Team JNPR who had the dorm across from them. All eight of them were seen streaking across campus in a mad dash passing Glynda and Ozpin. Glynda frowned while Ozpin sipped from his mug.

Just in the nick of time, both teams made it to Professor Peter Port's class. He was an older huntsman with grey hair, eyebrows, and a mustache. He was also a little wide in the waist band. But he was best known for his bombastic storytelling which in his mind amounted to teaching. He was known among the student body as the Mad Tale-King.

"Monsters!" he began in his deep voice. "Demons! Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names." He referred to the wall behind him which bore several sketches of known Grimm including the King Taijitu, Deathstalker, Beowolf, Boarbatusk, Nevermore, and Ursa.

"But _I_ merely refer to them… as prey!" Port laughed, shaking Ruby out of a tired daze. "And you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy.

"Now, as I was saying, Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Remnant is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces. And that's where we come in.

"Huntsmen! Huntresses!" he said, making a suggestive clicking sound in Yang's direction.

She giggled nervously and felt nauseous. Sometimes she cursed her great curves and golden locks.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves. From what you ask? Why, the very world! That is what you're training to become. But first, a story. The tale of a young, handsome man… Me! When I was a boy…"

Port continued to ramble on about his past including some strange anecdote involving his grandfather.

Weiss nodded. She was bored, but played the dutiful student taking down any notes she thought might be helpful. She heard snickering from her left and looked at Ruby who had been doodling.

Ruby passed an irreverent picture of Port she had drawn down to Yang and Blake. It was complete with stink lines. Weiss was a little disgusted and a little more than disgusted when Ruby made a bodily noise with her tongue. Yang and Blake were beset by giggles.

Weiss clenched her pen, feeling the heat swell in her face. This was hardly appropriate behavior for the leader of a team of huntresses.

"The moral of this story," said Port, his voice coming back into the foreground, "a true huntsman must be honorable…"

Weiss looked at Ruby as she balanced an apple on her binder on a pen and all on her finger while making a strange face.

"A true huntsman must be dependable…"

Ruby yawned and seemed to nod off slightly.

"A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise…"

Ruby was now picking her nose.

The heat in Weiss had now grown into a full rage. She began grinding her teeth and started to shake. Ruby wasn't fit for the position of team leader. She was just a child. And a very immature one at that. Weiss should have been team leader, not her.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss raised her hand and with a little more force than she meant, she said, "I do, sir!"

"Well then, let's find out."

A teacher's aide rolled in a cage containing an ornery Boarbatusk.

"Step forward, and face your opponent!"

Weiss marched up to the front of the class and drew Myrtenaster.

"Go, Weiss!" cheered Yang.

"Fight well!" called Blake.

"Yeah! Represent Team RWBY!" added Ruby.

"Ruby!" scolded Weiss. "I'm trying to focus."

"Oh," Ruby said in a tiny voice. "Sorry…"

But the fact that Weiss hadn't said anything to Yang or Blake hadn't escaped her.

"All right," said Port, wielding his double-bitted axe-musket. "Let the match begin!" he said, cutting the cage open.

The Boarbatusk charged Weiss. She rolled to the side and slashed at its flank—it had no effect as the Boarbatusk was covered in bone-like protrusions giving it a decent set of armor.

"Ha-ha!" said Port. "Weren't expecting that were you?"

Ruby looked a little worried. "Hang in there, Weiss!"

Weiss charged, but the Grimm's bone armor turned her blade. She lost her balance and Myrtenaster became entangled in the two giant tusks that gave the creature its name.

"Come on, Weiss!" cheered Ruby. "Show it who's boss!"

Weiss looked back at her. Her grip loosened, and the Boarbatusk managed to disarm her, throwing the rapier to the other side of the room. It knocked her backward.

Port seemed to be enjoying himself. "Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?"

The Grimm charged Weiss and she managed to dodge it. The Boarbatusk ran into its cage and knocked itself somewhat senseless giving Weiss enough time to collect her sword.

"Weiss!" called Ruby. "Go for its belly. There's no armor—!"

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss already knew what she had to do. She knew where to hit it. She didn't need Ruby's assistance. And she'd be damned if she took any from Ruby.

Ruby shrunk into her seat as much as she could. Several others were also uncomfortable.

The Boarbatusk turned itself into a ball and spun-dash at Weiss. She produced a glyph before her, which the Grimm ricocheted off, landing on its back. Weiss backflipped up and launched herself from another glyph giving her the vantage point necessary to thrust Myrtenaster into the beast's gut. Weiss withdrew her rapier and stabbed it again. It wasn't necessary, but it sure felt good.

"Bravo! Bravo!" called Port. "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training."

The bell chimed.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings and stay vigilant. Class dismissed."

Weiss collected her books and stomped off without her team.

Ruby ran after her and caught her in the hallway. "Weiss."

"What?!"

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being—"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?! You're supposed to be a leader. And all you've been so far is a nuisance."

"What did _I_ do?"

"That's just it! You've done nothing to earn your position. Back in the forest, you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so."

Ruby shrank under Weiss' smoldering words. "Weiss… where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about working together? I thought you believed in acting as a team."

"Not a team led by you. I've studied. And trained! And quite frankly, I deserve better. Ozpin made a mistake." Weiss stormed off.

Ruby slumped.

Weiss walked outside onto Beacon's ramparts. Standing at the far end was Professor Port. Weiss saw him and thought she might be able to plead her case of Ozpin's mistake to someone sensible.

"Professor Port."

Port turned. "Ah! Miss Schnee. And to what do I owe this fine pleasure?"

"I…" Weiss faltered. How to begin? Maybe a little white lie wouldn't hurt. "I enjoyed your lecture."

"Of course you did, child. You have the blood of a true huntress in you."

That was good to hear. "You really think so?"

"Most surely."

Weiss looked away for a second; a calculated measure.

"Hmm. Something's troubling you."

"Yes, sir."

"Dear girl! Confess to me your strife!"

"Well… I think I should have been the leader of Team RWBY."

Port was quiet for a second. Then, with a bit of a laugh, "That's preposterous!"

Irritation rose in her voice. "Excuse me?!"

"I have believed in Professor Ozpin for many years, and the man has never once led me astray."

"So, you would blindly accept his decision even after seeing how exceptional I am?"

"With all due respect, your exceptional skill on the battlefield is matched only by your poor attitude."

"How dare you!"

"My point exactly. I see a girl before me who has spent her entire life getting exactly what she wanted."

Weiss folded her arms. "That's not even remotely true."

She fell under Port's gentle scrutiny and began to crumble beneath its weight.

"Well, not entirely true."

Port decided to try to appeal to her high-esteemed sense of reason. "So, the outcome did not fall in your favor. Do you really believe that acting in such a manner would cause those in power to reconsider their decision?"

Weiss seemed to have heard him—she defrosted a little.

"I suggest that instead of fretting over what you don't have, savor what you do. Hone your skills. Perfect every technique. And be not the best leader, but the best person you can be."

Weiss gave a helpless shrug, but wouldn't meet Port's gaze. He knew that even that much was a big concession for her and walked away satisfied.

Back in the hallway, Ruby turned and ran into Ozpin.

"Hmm. Now that didn't seem to go very well," he noted.

Ruby couldn't help the doubt from welling up inside her. "Is she right? Did you make a mistake?"

"That remains to be seen," he said with a half-laugh.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it's only been one day. Ruby, I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on Remnant. But at this moment, I would not consider your appointment to leader to be one of them. Do you?"

Ruby looked unsure.

"Being a team leader isn't just a title that you carry into battle but a badge you wear constantly. If you are not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you?

"You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I advise you take some time to think about how you will uphold it." Ozpin walked away.

Ruby considered what he said. What was the best way to show Weiss that she could be at her best and uphold her responsibility as team leader? She thought back to her antics in the classroom. Perhaps some of the things she had done were childish and immature. Perhaps Yang and her father were both right: a part of growing up meant working well with others. It would mean needing to give up many of the childish antics she enjoyed, but her relationship with Weiss was more important.

It turned out, growing up required more than just drinking milk.


	9. RWBY: Jaundice

Teams JNPR and RWBY had a class together with the eccentric and caffeine-addicted Professor Oobleck. At least half-a-dozen coffee mugs littered his desk and he held another in his hand, sipping from it occasionally. He zipped around the room going over the basic history of the Faunus while some students, like Jaune, quietly napped, seemingly unnoticed.

"Yes, yes. Prior to the Faunus Rights Movement, better known as the Faunus War, humankind was quite, _quite_ adamant about centralizing the Faunus population on the island of Menagerie. Now! While this may seem like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events. Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day.

"Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?"

Weiss raised her hand. "The Battle at Fort Castle."

"Precisely! And! Who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagoon's forces?"

There was a pause. Just long enough for Cardin to flick a paper football at the back of Jaune's head and wake him with a start, catching Oobleck's eye.

"Mr. Arc!" said Oobleck. "Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! Now, what is the answer?"

Jaune hemmed and hawed. While looking across the room past Oobleck at Pyrrha to get a hint, he babbled, "Uh, the answer… the advantage… the Faunus had over that guy's stuff was…"

Pyrrha made vague gestures with her fingers to her eyes, mouthing, "Night vision." But Jaune didn't get it. She tried cupping her hands and holding them up to her eyes.

Jaune's head snapped back, and he proudly proclaimed, "Binoculars!"

The class laughed, Oobleck sipped his coffee, and Pyrrha facepalmed.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc." Oobleck looked up and noticed Cardin was laughing hardest of all. "Mr. Winchester. Perhaps you would like to share your thoughts on the subject."

Cardin leaned back and put his feet up on the desk. "Well, I know that it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier."

Pyrrha replied, "You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?"

"What? You got a problem?"

"No. I have the answer. It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark."

Blake added, "General Lagoon was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched and the general was captured." She turned to Cardin. "Perhaps if he had paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

Many in the class went "Ooh!" and Cardin shook his fist.

"Mr. Winchester," warned Oobleck. "That'll do. In fact, both you and Mr. Arc can see me after class for additional readings."

Jaune groaned.

"Now! Moving on!"

After class, Pyrrha told Ren and Nora to go on ahead as she would wait for Jaune. They did so, and Pyrrha leaned against the wall just outside of the classroom. She could hear Oobleck perfectly.

"You two have been struggling in my class since day one. Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest, or just your stubborn natures, but whatever it is, it stops now. You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school, gentlemen, and we only accept the best of the best. So, I expect you to act like it.

"History is important, gentlemen. If you can't learn from it, you're destined to repeat it. Your assignment is pages fifty-one to ninety-one, and I want an essay on my desk by next class. Now, run along."

Jaune and Cardin left, but as soon as they were in the hallway, Cardin shoved Jaune to the ground before walking away.

Pyrrha helped Jaune to his feet. "You know, I really will break his legs."

"Thanks for the offer…"

As Jaune dusted himself off, Pyrrha suddenly looked excited. "I have an idea! Here, come with me," she said, dragging him away.

Pyrrha took Jaune to a section of cleared rooftop of Beacon's dormitory. It was originally used by couples as a not-so-secret make-out spot, but Glynda had cracked down hard on the amorous offenders. As a result, the rooftop was now abandoned.

Pyrrha and Jaune walked to the edge of the roof where they could see Beacon framed against the night sky. Orbs of green light shone from the CCT tower. Pyrrha thought it was a lovely sight. She smiled and looked softly at Jaune. He however had a different take.

"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not _that_ depressed," he said, looking at the ground several stories below. "I can always be a farmer or something."

Pyrrha freaked. "N-no!" She pushed Jaune away from the edge. "That's not why I brought you up here. Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class, and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so I want to help you." She gave him her sweetest smile.

"What?"

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us."

"You… think I need help?"

Seeing Jaune's crushed spirit, Pyrrha quickly said, "N-no. No. That's not what I meant."

"But you just said that."

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon. That speaks volumes of your potential."

Jaune turned away. "You're wrong." He sighed. "I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say. Of course, you do."

"No, I don't!"

Pyrrha recoiled.

He sighed again. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests, I didn't earn my spot at this academy. I lied. I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied."

Pyrrha was shocked. How could Jaune perpetrate such a deception? "But why?"

"Because this is what I've always wanted to be. My father, my grandfather, and his father before him, they were all warriors. They were all heroes. I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."

"Then… let me help you," pleaded Pyrrha.

"I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel-in-distress! I want to be the hero! I'm tired of being the lovable idiot stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives. Don't you get it?! If I can't do this on my own, then what good am I?"

Pyrrha stepped toward Jaune, but he stepped back.

"Just… leave me alone."

"If that's what you think is best," she said sadly.

Pyrrha walked away and tried her best not to cry. It was bad enough Jaune had lied to everyone, to his team, and to her, but to flat out reject her aide and show how immature he truly was… he was not the man she thought he was. He was not the man she hoped he could be.

Jaune stayed on the roof and paced for a little while pitying himself. Then he heard someone laughing. He turned around and up popped Cardin, scaling the building.

"Oh, Jaune. I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room. So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I gotta say, Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel."

"Please, Cardin! Please! Please, don't tell anyone."

"Jaune. Come on. I'd never rat out a _friend_ like that."

"A 'friend?'"

Cardin put his arm around Jaune and pulled him into a less-than-friendly headlock. "Of course. We're friends now, Jauney boy. And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." Cardin released Jaune; he was gasping for air. "That being said, I really don't have the time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" Cardin ruffled Jaune's hair.

Jaune didn't answer.

"That's what I thought. Don't worry, Jaune. Your secret's safe with me."

Cardin disappeared back over the roof's edge while Jaune tried to figure out what sort of deal with the devil he had just made.

It had been a few days since Cardin had shanghaied Jaune into his service. Jaune had not shared the status of his new captivity with his team.

One night, he had just made it back to his dorm after running a few errands for Cardin when suddenly he heard Nora talking through the door. "How come Jaune gets home so late?"

"He has become rather scarce since he's been fraternizing with Cardin," Ren replied.

"That's weird. Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest."

"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing," Pyrrha bit. She was worried about Jaune, but still upset with him. And Jaune suddenly being friends with Cardin exacerbated everything. Had he really gone to the dark side to become stronger?

Jaune had heard Pyrrha. He knew that she knew that he didn't know what he was doing anymore. He had allowed himself to become enslaved to his ambitions and lost her respect in turn. How many times had he considered telling Glynda himself so he could stop being Cardin's slave? But he never had the courage to pull through.

A cheery voice startled him. "Hey, Jaune!"

He jumped and turned. It was Ruby in her pajamas.

"Long time, no see. Did you lock yourself out again?"

"Oh! Uh, nope. Got it," he said, holding up his scroll.

"So, where have you been lately?"

"I, uh…" Jaune paused. He desperately wanted to tell someone. And before he knew it, he had already blurted, "I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin's got me on a leash, and Pyrrha won't even talk to me, and… I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea." He shrunk to the floor. "I'm a failure."

There was a brief pause before Ruby said, "Nope."

"Nope?"

"Nope. You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure."

"But… what if I'm a failure at being a leader?"

Ruby thought for a second. "Nope."

Jaune laughed humorlessly. "You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."

"Nope. Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid."

Jaune sighed.

"And you might have even been a failure the first day we met."

Jaune groaned.

"But you can't be one now. You know why? Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do. And if we fail, we'll just be bringing them down with us. We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you. Well, good night." Ruby disappeared into her dorm.

Jaune stood. He didn't know where Ruby had gotten such an insight into being a team leader, especially when she herself had had problems with her own teammates not that long ago. But he had a strong feeling she was right. He would have to put his team first. Unfortunately, his scroll ringing made him forget about Ruby's sagacious advice. He answered it.

"Hey! It's your buddy, Cardin. I know you're probably busy with that dust project I gave you, but I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of rapier wasps."

Jaune started. Rapier wasps? What would it take to get his hands on those?

"Make sure they've got some _really_ big stingers. It's important, so don't screw this up."

Jaune closed his scroll and sighed. This mess was getting worse by the minute.

The next day, the first year students found themselves in a forest of perpetually falling leaves in shades of yellow, red, and orange. Glynda led them through the forest, explaining, "Yes, students. The Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sightsee. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." She turned around abruptly.

Everyone stopped except for Jaune who had been lugging equipment and jars enough for six people. He couldn't see over his load and bumped into Cardin who growled at him.

Glynda continued, "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm. So be sure to stay by your teammates. We'll rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun."

Cardin smiled darkly at Jaune. "Come on, buddy. Let's go."

Jaune looked at Pyrrha forlornly. She had the same look. Jaune wanted to join her, but he followed after Cardin.

Some time passed, and while the members of Team CRDL lounged about, Jaune came stumbling into the clearing with all six jars filled. He put them on the ground and collapsed. In a funny voice he said, "I think I'm allergic to this stuff."

"Great, great, great," said Cardin, not listening. "So Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself 'why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?'"

"That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today." But several others had been much more important and disparaging.

"Well, come with me, and you'll find out."

Jaune groaned.

They managed to sneak up to a fallen log overlooking a scene with both Teams RWBY and JNPR as they went about collecting sap.

Jaune looked at Cardin. He seemed to radiate a black fury. "Cardin. What's going on?"

"Payback," he growled.

Jaune looked where Cardin was looking. "Pyrrha?"

"That's the girl! Red-haired know-it-all. Thinks she's so smart." Cardin pulled out a box that seemed to be buzzing angrily. "Alright, boys. Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of rapier wasps, and now, we're gonna put'em to work.

"Now, according to one of the essays he wrote for me last week, these nasty things _love_ sweets. And I'm thinking it's time we teach _her_ a thing or two." Team CRDL stood with Cardin pulling Jaune to his feet. He shoved one of the jars of sap in his stomach. "And you're gonna do it."

"Do… what?" Jaune dreaded the answer.

"Hit her with the sap, of course. Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

Jaune looked at the jar in his hands. He looked up at Cardin. His hopes and dreams completely depended on staying at Beacon. If he couldn't stay, he'd never become a warrior—he'd never become a hero like his father and grandfather.

Jaune cocked his arm back, but as he looked at Pyrrha, he felt his ambition waver. It was bad enough he had lied to Pyrrha and rejected her offer to help him. But now he was going to betray her in so dastardly a way, Jaune knew it meant no going back. Were his dreams worth losing his teammates, friends, and Pyrrha?

"Do it, Jaune," commanded Cardin.

Jaune felt something turn over in his mind. He lowered his arm. "No."

Cardin leaned in. "What did you say?"

Jaune's rebellion spurred his ire. Justly upset with himself and angry at Cardin, his passion released itself. "I said, no!" Jaune threw the sap at Cardin and it shattered on his breastplate, covering him in sap.

"Oh, you've done it now," said Cardin, looming forward.

Two members of CRDL grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and pulled him in. Laughing nervously was his only defense.

"You know that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy," said Cardin, slugging Jaune. "I'm going to make sure that they send you back to mommy in teeny, tiny pieces."

Jaune's face began to bear a significant bruise. "I don't care what you do to me, but you are not messing with my team."

"What? You think talk like that makes you tough?" Cardin picked Jaune up by the collar and lifted him off the ground. "You think you're a big, strong man now?"

Jaune smiled. It struck him that maybe this was how someone becomes a hero. And the fact that he had done it for Pyrrha made him feel all the more virtuous, but he didn't know why.

Cardin thought Jaune was mocking him. He raised a fist and threw it into Jaune's face. But just as his fist connected, there was a blinding flash of light. Cardin dropped Jaune, screamed, and cradled his hand.

Jaune looked at his own hands and saw a faint white aura surrounding them. But after it faded, Cardin knew that the moment had passed.

"Let's see how much of a man you really—"

But then, there was a savage growl.

The boys turned and saw a great, black beast lumber out of the forest with massive white claws, bones, and spines protruding from its body. Its eyes were like fire and it seemed to be wearing its skull outside of its head.

The beast took a minute to sniff the air and seemed to take a quick interest in Cardin.

As his team abandoned him, one of them couldn't help remarking, "That's a big Ursa!"

Cardin drew his mace and readied himself for combat. But the Ursa was too strong and fast, knocking Cardin to the ground.

Jaune looked back into the forest and didn't think Cardin's team would return. His hand trembled as he reached for his sword.

Not that far removed, Teams RWBY and JNPR were still collecting their sap when they heard the Ursa roar. Ruby asked the painfully obvious. "Did you guys hear that?"

Suddenly, Team CRDL ran past them.

"Ursa! Ursa!" one of them warned. He ran right into Yang and bounced off. She was pretty sturdy for a chick and didn't even flinch. It was also a pity because he thought running right into Yang's front would have been awesome.

"What?!" said Yang. She grabbed him by the shirt. "Where?"

"Back there! It's got Cardin."

Pyrrha dropped her jar of sap. "Jaune!"

"Yang!" said Ruby. "You and Blake go get Professor Goodwitch."

"You two go with them," said Pyrrha, indicating Ren and Nora. "There could be more."

Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss drew their weapons and ran deeper into the forest. They arrived just in time to see Cardin struggling to get away from the Ursa as it loomed over him. Its gaping mouth was as big as his head.

The Ursa attacked again but was stopped by Jaune, shielding Cardin. He buckled under the Ursa's strength, and Weiss replied by flourishing Myrtenaster.

"Wait," said Pyrrha. Seeing Jaune fighting and defending the bully, not out of fear, but virtue, made her think he had finally come around. And in fact, winning this battle may go a long way to boosting his confidence.

Jaune managed to push the Ursa's claw away and made a wrathful slash to its torso. The Ursa roared and struck again, but Jaune rolled out of the way. It swung again, and again Jaune dodged.

Jaune worked up his courage and charged. The Ursa however swung and got him, this time knocking him to the ground. Jaune bounced, but he rolled right back up on his feet. He charged again, but again, the Ursa knocked him away.

Jaune stood, feeling much worse for wear. He checked his scroll and saw that his aura was in the red. He could have adopted a more defensive strategy, but from stories told to him by his father and grandfather, he knew that the more aggressive combatant would always win. He had no choice but to keep fighting.

The Ursa charged and Jaune ran to meet it. He brought his sword back just as the Ursa raised its claw.

Pyrrha, her battle senses being so finely tuned, could see the outcome of this final crossover—Jaune would have his head taken clean off. But then Pyrrha noticed where Jaune's shield was. Instead of protecting himself while he swung, his shield was way off to the side where it would do him no good. But a minor adjustment just might put things in his favor.

Pyrrha lifted her hand and there was a strange magnetic buzz. Jaune's shield came up and the Ursa's claw scratched against it and slid off. Jaune almost went down to one knee from the impact of the blow, but adrenaline pushed him on forcing him to lift his sword and in one swift slash, he decapitated the Ursa.

Ruby looked at Pyrrha as her hand dropped. "Uh? What?"

"How did you…?" Weiss began.

"Well," began Pyrrha, "Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs… my Semblance is polarity."

"Whoa," said Ruby. "You can control poles."

"No, you dunce!" chided Weiss. "It means she has control over magnetism."

"Magnets are cool, too," Ruby replied. Then after a second, "How do they work? Seriously?"

Pyrrha turned.

"Where are you going?" asked Weiss.

"Yeah!" agreed Ruby. "We have to tell someone what happened."

"We… could," said Pyrrha. "Or perhaps, we could just keep it our little secret." She looked at Jaune as he sheathed his sword. A big smile crept across her face.

Jaune helped Cardin to his feet.

"Holy crap, Jaune!"

"Don't mess with my team—my friends!—ever again. Got it?!"

Cardin didn't say anything and looked sorry.

Jaune didn't say anything else. He just walked away.

That night, Jaune was on the abandoned rooftop overlooking Beacon. In the past few hours, he'd thought about many things including coming clean to Glynda and dropping out of Beacon. His thoughts were suddenly disturbed by the clip-clop of a set of heels. He instantly recognized the cadence of the step.

"No Cardin tonight?" asked Pyrrha, somewhat surprised but still trying to suppress her glee. "I thought you two were best buds."

"Pyrrha. I'm sorry. I was a jerk. You were only trying to help, and I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head."

"It's okay, Jaune." She had already forgiven him. "Your team really misses their leader, you know. You should come down," she said, walking away. "Ren made pancakes. No syrup though, you can thank Nora for that."

"Wait!"

Pyrrha stopped.

"I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but… would you still be willing to help me? To become a better fighter? Otherwise, I may have to drop out."

Pyrrha turned her back on him. She closed her eyes and an impish smile came to her face. This was exactly the sort of opportunity she needed. In fact, her first offer hadn't been completely selfless, either.

She walked up to Jaune and put her hands on his chest. She paused for a second, smiling, before pushing him down.

"Hey!"

"Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground."

"…Oh."

Pyrrha helped Jaune up, but held onto his hand just a little longer than necessary. "Let's try that again."


	10. RWBY: The Stray

On a beautiful afternoon, Team RWBY found themselves in downtown Vale. The streets and lamp posts were decorated in streamers of brown, green, and yellow. Large bunches of balloons in the same colors were anchored to the sides of buildings, and there was even a large banner being hung overhead just outside the main port saying "Welcome to Vale." The reason as to why and why the girls were there was soon revealed.

"The Vytal Festival!" said Weiss excitedly. "Oh, this is absolutely wonderful."

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much," Ruby said. "It's kinda weirding me out."

"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament. Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking."

Yang sighed. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."

"Quiet you!"

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"

Ruby plugged her nose. "Ew. They smell like fish."

"I've heard transfer students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today," explained Weiss. "And as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

"In other words," began Blake, "she wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."

"You can't prove that."

Suddenly, Ruby said, "Whoa."

Down one of the streets, one of the shops had its windows broken and was taped off by Vale police.

Team RWBY approached. "What happened here?"

"Robbery," explained Detective Sergeant Burnie. "Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."

"That's terrible," said Yang.

"They left all the money again," noted Detective Constable Joel.

"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense," said Detective Burnie. "Who needs that much Dust?"

"I don't know."

"You thinking, uh, White Fang?"

"I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

"Hm," said Weiss haughtily. "The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates."

Blake started and blinked. "What's _your_ problem?"

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're merely a collection of misguided Faunus."

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet."

"So then they're _very_ misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."

"Blake's got a point," said Ruby. "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago. Maybe it was him."

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum," Weiss continued. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

Blake's eyes narrowed as she inhaled sharply.

"That's not necessarily true," observed Yang.

Suddenly, there was a shout from behind them. "Hey! Stop that Faunus!"

The girls rushed back to the docks just in time to see a boy about their age jump over the side of the ship from Vacuo. He had blonde hair, a terrific set of abs shown off by his open shirt, and a monkey tail. He dodged a couple of shipmates calling back, "Thanks for the ride, suckers."

"You no good stowaway!"

The Faunus turned back. "Hey. A no good stowaway would've been caught. I'm a great stowaway." He casually took a banana from his pocket and peeled it.

Detectives Burnie and Joel arrived on the dock. "You're in a lot of trouble, mister!"

The Faunus ran around them and threw the banana peel over his shoulder hitting one of them in the face. They chased him up from the docks and onto Vale's main street. The Faunus ran past Team RWBY, and just as he passed Blake, he winked at her.

Blake's eyes widened and she couldn't breathe for a second. She felt something that she hadn't before. Then she paused; could he see through her disguise?

Yang said, "Well, Weiss. You wanted to see the competition, and there it goes."

"Quick! We have to observe him." Weiss led the charge after Vale's detectives after the stowaway.

Unfortunately, the girls started losing ground, and as soon as the stowaway and pursuers were gone around a blind corner, Weiss had the misfortune of running into a very hard bystander both of whom fell.

"No!" cried Weiss from the ground. "He got away."

"Uh… Weiss," said Yang, pointing at the ground beneath her.

She looked down and found a girl about her age with shoulder length orange hair. Weiss quickly stood, alarmed.

"Sal-u-tations!" said the girl from the ground no worse for wear and even offering a smile and wave.

"Are you okay?" asked Yang.

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking."

"Do you… wanna get up?"

The girl thought for a second. "Yes." She sprung to her feet.

Team RWBY backed up some and exchanged glances.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hi, Penny. I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

Blake elbowed Yang.

"Oh! I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Penny.

"You already said that," noted Weiss.

"So I did."

"Well, sorry for running into you," said Weiss as she turned away.

"Take care, friend," said Ruby as she left with the others.

When they were a safe distance away, Yang mentioned the obvious. "She was… weird."

"Never mind her," said Weiss. "Now, where did that Faunus riffraff run off to?"

Suddenly, Penny appeared in front of them. Weiss almost had a nervous breakdown trying to figure out how. "What did you call me?"

"Oh! I'm really sorry," said Yang. "I definitely didn't think you heard me."

"No. Not you," said Penny. " _You_ ," she said, leaning in.

" _Me_?" said Ruby with a squeak and leaning backward. "I don't know um—uh—I…"

"You called me 'friend.' Am I really your friend?"

Ruby looked to the others. They tried to tell her to say no. "Yeah, sure. Why not?"

The others stared at her.

"Sen-sational!" cried Penny. "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

Ruby groaned. She leaned over to Weiss. "Is this what it was like when you met me?"

"No. She seems far more coordinated."

"So," began Yang, "what're you doing in Vale?" Yang's natural friendliness could not be stopped or undone by a little strangeness as many of her friends were stranger than this.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament."

"You're fighting in the tournament?" said Weiss incredulously.

"I'm combat ready!" said Penny with a salute.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

"Says the girl wearing a dress," noted Blake.

" _It's_ a combat skirt," corrected Weiss.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. They then gave each other five.

"Wait," said Weiss, coming to a revelation. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean that you know that monkey-tailed rapscallion?"

"The who?"

"The filthy Faunus from the boat."

"Why do you keep saying that?!" Blake's patience was wearing thin. "Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person."

"Oh, I'm sorry," feigned Weiss. "Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamp post as a lamp post?"

"Stop it!"

"Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang."

"You ignorant, little brat!" Blake stormed away.

Weiss gasped. She was silent for a second before going after Blake. "How dare you talk to me like that. I am your teammate."

" _You_ are a judgmental, little girl."

"What in the world makes you say that?"

"Uh…" faltered Yang. "I think we should probably go." But Weiss and Blake were content to settle their argument in the streets of Vale.

"The fact that you think he's likely to join a terrorist group simply based on his species makes you as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be."

"So you admit it? The White Fang _is_ just a radical group of terrorists."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem."

" _That_ is the problem."

"You realize you're defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you?" asked Weiss. "The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil."

"There's no such thing as pure evil!" Blake objected. "Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures."

"People like me?!" Weiss really didn't understand where Blake was coming from. Why was she being so obstinate?

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!" she shrieked.

That caused everyone to pause.

"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus? It's because they've been at war with my family for years. As in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember.

"Ever since I was a child, I've seen family and friends disappear. Board members, executed. An entire train car of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home furious, and that made for a very _difficult_ childhood.

"You want to know why I despise the White Fang?! It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

Again, everyone gave pause.

Weiss stepped back. "'We?'"

"I—I…" Blake's eyes darted around. But she saw only one choice, so she ran, disappearing into downtown Vale.

"Blake! Wait!" called Ruby. "Come back!"

But Blake was gone. She ran until she couldn't run any further and found herself in a poorer district of Vale. Its buildings were rundown and in disrepair. The people were surly and unkempt. She passed by an old tenement as a man threw a stray cat out into the street. "Beat it, you filthy animal!"

Blake paused. A tear came to her eye and she found an old argument she had had with herself creep back into her mind. She reached up and undid the black bow that hid a pair of cat ears atop her head.

How could she reconcile the human and animal within her? Was she a beast, not all that dissimilar from the creatures of Grimm?

Tears welled up in her eyes. She began to sob quietly until a familiar stranger's voice spoke. "I knew you'd look better without the bow."


	11. RWBY: Black and White

Black and White

At Sun's confusing suggestion, Blake found herself at Vale's dockyard watching over a Schnee Dust Company shipment that had just come in. She kept a low profile lying prone on top of a warehouse roof overlooking the shipping yard. Night had fallen and she scanned all the hiding places, shadows, and edges of the Schnee shipping containers, but there was no movement.

"Did I miss anything?" Sun plopped down next to her, clutching a bushel of apples to his chest.

"Not really. They've offloaded all the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there."

"Cool. I stole you some food," Sun said, casually offering her a granny smith.

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?"

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?"

She gave him a smoldering glare.

Sun crumbled. "Okay. Too soon."

Suddenly, a strong wind kicked up around them as an whirring engine roared. An airship was above. Tensions slightly rose as they watched it drop into the yard. The boarding ramp shot down and Blake felt sick.

"Is that them?" Sun spied a man with a white coat that had a red tiger's face and claw marks on the back. He wore a white mask that vaguely resembled a Grimm.

"Yes. It's them."

Several more disembarked from the airship, one carrying a gun. He ordered, "Grab the tow cables. Let's get the Dust and get out of here."

Sun said, "You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?"

"No. I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right."

Just then, there was a new voice coming from the airship. "Hey! What's the hold up? We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment," said Roman Torchwick. "So, why don't you animals try to pick up the pace."

"This isn't right," said Blake. "The White Fang would never work with a human. _Especially_ not one like that." She jumped off the warehouse ignoring Sun's protests and charged into the shipping yard.

Blake peered around a shipping container and saw Torchwick scolding a White Fang member holding a steel cable. "No, you idiot. This isn't a leash."

Blake leapt forward and put the back of her blade across Torchwick's throat.

"What the—? Oh, for f—"

"Nobody move!" demanded Blake. Several of the White Fang drew weapons on her.

"Whoa, hey!" said Torchwick. "Take it easy there, little lady."

As more White Fang surrounded her, Blake undid her bow. "Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?!"

Some of the White Fang seemed ashamed and lowered their weapons.

Torchwick laughed. "Oh, kid. Didn't you get the memo?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together."

"Tell me what it is, or I'll put an end to your little operation." Suddenly, there were two more airships kicking up fierce gusts at their arrival.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a 'little' operation."

Blake looked up at the airships and was distracted momentarily. Torchwick pointed the end of his cane at her feet and fired. The resulting explosion sent her flying back.

Elsewhere in Vale, the explosion caught the attention of Ruby and Penny. Ruby groaned. "Oh, no."

Torchwick continued to bombard Blake with his cane. She dodged the shots expertly, but found it necessary to take cover, dodging behind a shipping container.

"Here, kitty, kitty," taunted Torchwick. But then, something floppy fell on his hat. He cleared it off and found it to be a banana peel. He looked up to see where it came from just as two feet landed on top of his head and knocked him to the ground with force.

Sun rolled and jumped back up to his feet. "Leave her alone," he threatened.

Seven more White Fang members jumped down from the two airships still circulating the yard. They surrounded Sun.

"You are not the brightest banana in the bunch, are ya kid?" said Torchwick.

The White Fang charged Sun. He took them on using only fisticuffs proving to be a capable fighter not even taking a single hit and using his tail as an extra appendage. Eventually though, he pulled out a rod that extended into a bo staff. With each hit, there was a small fiery explosion suggesting that there was Dust embedded into the staff. He knocked back several of the White Fang before slamming it on the ground creating a shockwave that felled the nearest three.

Torchwick, exhausted with his inept crew, took things into his own hands and fired. Sun however managed to block it and dissipate the shot by spinning his staff.

Suddenly, Blake jumped out from behind Sun. "He's mine!" She charged Torchwick and dueled him fiercely. She used both her sword and sheath as well as her Semblance to dodge attacks and burst forward. Torchwick however proved to be more than a capable opponent with his cane. He parried every hit and dished out some of his own despite his undisciplined fighting style.

Torchwick managed to catch Blake off guard by whacking her with the crook of the cane. He followed that up with three more attacks that eventually knocked Blake to the ground. He laughed, but then Sun was on him.

Sun broke apart his staff into two sets of nunchucks and went at Torchwick flipping and spinning them. Sun fired one of them revealing that they were actually shot-chucks possessing a lever and handle at each end of the chuk and a gun barrel on the other.

Torchwick was surprised, but he held his ground. He managed to deflect or block each shot so well, he didn't take the fight seriously even managing a laugh until Blake charged and slashed across his chest with Gambol Shroud. He was knocked back several feet, but as he got up, he saw a shipping container suspended by a crane. He shot the cable holding it hoping to flatten Sun and Blake. They dodged it, but Sun went forward as Blake went back. Sun hadn't stuck the landing and as he was getting up, he found the business end of Torchwick's cane pointed at him.

Suddenly, there was a "Hey!" from atop the far warehouse and Ruby appeared, flourishing her scythe.

"Oh, hello, Red!" said Torchwick. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Ruby," said Penny, "are these people your friends?"

"Penny, get back."

Torchwick took the opening and fired at Ruby. The shot hit her and she went flying, losing her scythe in the blast. Torchwick laughed evilly. Penny's eyes narrowed and she stepped up to the end of the roof.

"Penny, wait! Stop!"

"Don't worry, Ruby," she replied. "I'm combat ready!" A panel in Penny's back opened and out sprung a long object. It paused in mid air, extended into a sword, and then multiplied into ten swords.

Penny ran and jumped off the warehouse. She landed amongst several White Fang and with the slightest stretch of her arms, the ten swords danced through the air knocking them back. More joined the fray, but Penny sent her swords flying forward and they sent the charging White Fang flying back en masse.

Three airships targeted Penny and started firing their 20 mm Dust cannons. Penny merely spun her swords creating a shield deflecting the projectiles while two more swords shot directly out of her back. They embedded themselves in the warehouse wall and the almost invisible wires that attached the swords to Penny became taut pulling her all the way back to the warehouse.

She formed the ten blades again into a spinning circle, but their shape slightly altered so they looked like guns, their ends pointed at the airships. As they spun, a ball of green energy began to grow in the center of them. Penny waited a second, then pushed both of her fists forward. The ball of energy turned into a beam and split into several smaller beams slicing two of the airships in half. Their crews fell into the yard and the airship halves wrecked in the bay.

The other airship was beginning to cart away a Schnee container, but Penny aimed six of her swords at it. They flew upward and dug into the ship's steel hull, the wires became taut again, and Penny began to back up, pulling the airship with her.

Ruby was in awe. "How is she doing that?"

Penny had a brief tug of war with the airship before pulling down with all her might making it crash into the yard.

Torchwick, amid all the chaos, made good his escape on the first ship. Before closing the hatch, he commented, "These kids just keep getting weirder."

Sometime later, the Vale police showed up and started casing the scene. They took statements from Ruby, Penny, Sun, and Blake, and got to business investigating the rest of the yard.

The four sat off to the side by themselves. No one spoke. Ruby had called Yang and Weiss on her scroll, and they waited for them in silence. Both Ruby and Blake were anxious to hear what Weiss would have to say. Finally, they appeared.

Ruby was first to approach Weiss. "Look, Weiss. It's not what you think. She explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually wear a bow. She actually has kitty ears, and they're actually kind of cute…" But Ruby's plea fell on deaf ears as Weiss strode up to Blake.

The two stared at each other for a while. Blake broke the silence first. "Weiss. I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was—"

"Stop. Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?"

Blake went blank.

"Twelve hours. And, you've been missing for two days. Meaning, I've had a lot of time to think about this. And in that whole time I've decided… I don't care."

Everyone seemed dumbfounded.

"You don't care?"

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"No. I haven't been since I was younger—"

Weiss quickly hushed her. "I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up, you'll come to your teammates and not some…" glances were shot at Sun, "and not someone else."

Blake wasn't really sure what to make of Weiss' request. But considering everything that Blake knew about her, this was as personable as Weiss was going to get. If Blake read between her words, she discovered that Weiss was actually saying a lot more. She did feel a little touched as betrayed by her necessity to wipe away a small tear that had developed in the corner of her eye. "Of course."

Weiss nodded and smiled.

Ruby blurted out, "Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!"

But then Weiss turned to Sun. "I'm still not quite sure how I feel about you."

He laughed nervously.

Ruby and Yang joined their teammates, but Ruby noticed something was wrong. "Hey, wait a minute. Where's Penny?"

Some distance away in a Forge Model V, Penny looked out its tinted windows, longing to be back with her friends.

"You should know better than to go running around in a strange city," said an old, raspy voice, sitting right next to her.

Penny looked at the car's floor. "I know, sir."

"Penny… your time will come."

Back at Beacon tower, Ozpin had been contacted by Vale police that his students were involved in an incident at the docks. He was watching the security footage with his scroll, trying to piece together what was going through Ruby's mind at the time, when suddenly he received a message. The message was from Qrow and it read "Queen has pawns." Ozpin grunted in interest.


	12. RWBY: Best Day Ever

On a beautiful day in the summer, students were returning to Beacon Academy after their summer break. Many had already returned and were spending time catching up with their teammates in the cafeteria.

Except for their leader, Team RWBY was sitting at one table all on one side. Across from them at another table was Team JNPR. While Weiss drank a cup of coffee and Yang seemed to be making faces at Nora, Blake had one of her notebooks open. In it, she had doodled pictures of her former White Fang partner Adam Taurus. Ever since the fight at the docks, she had been obsessed with trying to figure out what he was after.

"Whatcha doin'?" asked Yang.

"Nothing!" said Blake, quickly shutting her notebook. "Just going over some notes from last semester."

A green grape flew at Yang and she caught in her mouth. She looked back at Blake. "Lame!" Nora catapulted a second grape and Yang caught it again.

It seemed like everything was going to be normal that day until Ruby appeared and slammed a giant white binder on the table. The title of the binder read "Best Day Ever Activities!" in bright red marker. Above that, in a conservative typeface which had been crossed out was "Vytal Festival Activities: Property of Weiss Schnee."

Ruby cleared her throat. To her team, "Sisters!" To JNPR, "Friends!" And then, "Weiss."

"Hey!"

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."

"This oughta be good," said Yang, catching a cherry in her mouth.

"A dream that one day, the four of us would come together, as a team, and have the most fun that anyone has ever had… ever!"

"Did you steal my binder?" asked Weiss.

"'I am not a crook'," said Ruby, throwing up a pair of deuces.

Blake asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about kicking this semester off with a bang!"

Yang replied, "I always kick my semesters off with a Yang! Eh? Guys? Am I right?" Suddenly, an apple hit in her face and Nora booed.

Ruby continued, "Look guys, it's been a good two weeks, and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great. But classes start back up tomorrow. Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today."

"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store," said Weiss.

Yang chucked a green apple back at Nora.

"I don't know," added Blake. "I think I might sit this one out." She had more research to do.

"Sit out or not, I think however we spend this last day, we do it as a team. I for one think—" But then suddenly, pie. It hit someone in the face. That someone was Weiss.

Nora looked at her hand like it wasn't hers. It had betrayed her. How had that cream pie managed to tumble off her fingers so badly that she hit Weiss instead of Yang? Never mind the fact that she completely missed Blake who sat between the two.

The pie slid off Weiss' face leaving her with a whipped cream facial. She shook with anger and embarrassment. She reached for the nearest food object, an apple, and cocked her arm.

Meanwhile, outside the cafeteria, Sun Wukong was with a teammate of his from Team SSSN, Neptune Vasilias. Sun had been telling him all about the fight that had happened at the docks the previous semester. "Man, that's harsh," commented Neptune.

"So then we were there fighting side-by-side," continued Sun. "She was super fast! And then I threw a banana at a guy which sounds gross but it was awesome!"

"Nice!"

"Right? And the best part is, she's a Faunus." Sun raised a hand to his lips in shock. "But that's a secret. I didn't say that! Okay?"

"Got it."

"And not a I'm-going-to-go-tell-Scarlet-the-second-Sun-turns-his-back secret. I'm talking secret-secret."

"Whoa, whoa. Chill out, man, okay? I got it."

Sun eyed him.

Neptune whispered, "I got it."

"You better. I just don't wanna screw this up, you know? The people here are the coolest. No offense to you guys."

"None taken."

Finally, Sun and Neptune reached the cafeteria's entrance.

"Okay," said Sun, "they're right in here. I'm really excited for you to meet them. So, be cool, okay? You're gonna be cool, right?"

"Dude," said Neptune. He stood back and folded his arms. And in his tight pants, slim fit hoodie over collared shirt and tie with his teeth sparkling in the sun, he did cut an impressive figure.

"Good point," admitted Sun.

But as Sun and Neptune entered the cafeteria, an onrush of students exited. Some of them shouted "food fight" and a feminine cackle echoed.

Sun and Neptune saw Team JNPR at the far end of the cafeteria with several tables stacked upon each other. Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha acted as honor guards protecting Nora who was on the topmost table declaring, "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

Team RWBY meanwhile was closest to the entrance with Ruby declaring war on JNPR. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be…" she crushed a milk carton in her hand, "delicious!"

"Yeah!" her team chimed.

"Ha! Off with their heads!" ordered Nora.

JNPR started lobbing watermelons en masse at RWBY.

"Yang!" said Ruby. "Turkeys!"

Yang dashed forward and stuck either fist up a turkey. She banged them together and faced the onslaught of watermelons. They came fast and furious, but no melon could stand up to her Iron Turkey Fist technique. Having smashed them all, she launched them from her fists and hit Jaune full in the body with both.

Pyrrha, witnessing the loss of her teammate and captain, took up a baguette and sought to mete out her vengeance on Blake who had grabbed a pair of baguettes. The two clashed and pushed against each other neither stale loaf giving way.

Pyrrha broke the bind and struck but Blake dodged. There was a flurry of expert French Dough Cuts between the two well-seasoned warriors. Pyrrha made for a wrathful cut, but Blake used a shadow copy to dodge it. From the air, she cast one of her baguettes at Pyrrha and missed.

As Blake fell, Pyrrha surged forward and delivered a Spear Roll Thrust to Blake's gut knocking her back several yards. Pyrrha then threw her baguette as a javelin at Yang. Yang managed to break it and the next, but the third baguette succeeded in knocking her back also.

Ruby advanced in Yang's place sliding among the spilled fluids of the cafeteria's tables on a tray. She jumped and kicked Pyrrha back.

Ren and Nora now charged forward in Pyrrha's place. Ruby spun back and deferred to Weiss. She spun forward daintily and squirted the floor in copious amounts of ketchup. Ren slipped and slid into a cluster of tables. Nora however jumped into the air and grabbed a flag post from the top of the cafeteria's wall. She snapped it off and upon hitting the ground, embedded the end in another melon.

Nora did an impressive flourish and smacked the melon hammer into the ground. The force of the blow knocked Ruby back. Weiss had dodged it and picked up a frozen swordfish by the tail. While not a practitioner of the Xiphias Gladiae arts, Weiss found the fish to be about the right length, weight, and handling of her Myrtenaster. She engaged Nora in savage combat, but her Xiphiidae rapier let her down not being able to match the sheer brutality of Nora's Cucurbitaceae hammer. She delivered a crushing blow to Weiss' abdomen and knocked her all the way back to the other end of the cafeteria.

Weiss hit a pillar and shattered it. As she fell unconscious, Ruby leapt and caught her saving her from the pillar's collapse.

"Weiss?! Weiss! Don't leave me!" But seeing no reaction from the Ice Queen, Ruby couldn't stop a lament from escaping her lungs.

Meanwhile, Yang and Ren were back in the fight going at each other. Yang was armed with her Iron Turkey Fists and Ren with his Fresh Leek Kali Sticks. Being fast as lightning and with expert timing, the two fighters showcased their martial art prowess against one another. Yang got the upper hand with a Turkey Hammerfist to Ren's head and followed it up with a Turkey Uppercut launching him into the air. Ren regained enough faculty to throw his leeks at Yang, but she dodged them jumping into the air herself and then meteored him straight into the ground.

As Yang landed though, Nora avenged Ren with a powerful upward sweep with her melon hammer. The force caught Yang full force destroying the melon and catapulting her up through the cafeteria's ceiling.

Disarmed of her hammer, Blake seized the advantage by lashing Nora with a Weiner Whip. Nora was knocked back into a grape soda machine breaking it open and releasing cans of soda all over the ground. She picked up a few and bombarded Blake with the refreshing and sweet taste of the vine.

Blake managed to dodge Nora's bombardment, but she couldn't dodge Pyrrha's unrelenting salvo of grape sodas driven by her magnetic semblance. Caught in the carbonated explosion, she was blasted back.

Having regained her composure and seen enough of her comrades fall in brutal battle, Ruby stood and faced the four fresh members of JNPR. They prepared themselves for whatever the tiny girl would do, but they received the shock of their lives when Ruby rushed at them maxing out her speedy semblance. As she became a blinding vortex of red, a vacuum was created in her wake picking up all the remnants of food that had been spent in battle.

Ruby rocketed past Team JNPR and they were caught in the vacuum. Ruby stopped before the cafeteria wall and JNPR slammed into it. Ruby backflipped away just as the tornado of food caught up with JNPR coating them in greasy, sticky, leftover victuals. Having suffered a consummate defeat, the only thing they could do was slide off the wall to the floor.

"I love these guys," said Sun. He looked over at Neptune who was covered in grape soda.

Just then, Glynda burst into the cafeteria growling. She waved her riding crop and in a complicated but sentient harmony, the tables of the cafeteria were all realigned in their proper places and the wasted food disposed of in their proper receptacles. Through grit teeth, Glynda warned both teams, "Children! Please! Do not play with your food."

The damage done and pain subsided, both teams felt ashamed of themselves in their stained uniforms. Suddenly, Yang fell back through the cafeteria roof and shattered the tension of the moment. Both teams erupted into laughter. Glynda let out an exasperated sigh.

"Let it go," advised Ozpin, materializing at her side.

Glynda reluctantly relaxed. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."

"And they will be. But right now, they're still children. So why not let them play the part? After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever."


	13. RWBY: Welcome to Beacon

In the skies above Beacon, a handful of large military airships began to descend toward the school's docks. They were the new Nero-class airship designed by Atlas. Each one contained hundreds of Atlesian soldiers, human and cybernetic alike. Smaller, duty-bound Rosso-class airships buzzed around Beacon's tower maintaining a perimeter of control and stability. Ozpin and Glynda, standing in the headmaster's office, got an eyeful of their maneuverability and were able to appreciate the immensity of the Nero-class.

"Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work with him wherever he travels," bit Glynda.

"Well, running an academy and a military makes him a busy man," reasoned Ozpin. "But, yes. Those are a bit of an eye sore."

A message flashed on Ozpin's desk telling him that someone was just outside the office and requesting access. "Come in."

In stepped a middle aged man dressed in a white suit. His hair was short and black with some gray and silver. He had perfect posture and an almost arrogant sense of confidence. And strangely, there was a small metal rectangle above one of his eyes. When he entered, he said, "Ozpin!" in a clear, deep voice that had an unmistakable tone of command.

"Hello, General."

"Please, drop the formalities," said Ironwood as he and Ozpin crossed to each other. "It's been too long." They shook hands. "And, Glynda! It has certainly been too long since we last met."

Glynda stepped up beside Ozpin. "Oh, James!" she said sarcastically. Then to Ozpin, "I'll be outside."

Once Glynda had gone, Ironwood turned to Ozpin. "Well, she hasn't changed a bit."

"So," began Ozpin. "What in the world has brought you all the way down from Atlas?" He headed back to his desk and poured two cups of hot chocolate. He gave the first to Ironwood who took it in a gloved hand. "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students for the Vytal Festival."

"Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year." Ironwood reached into this overcoat and took out a circular flask. He added some of its contents to the mug Ozpin had given him. "Besides, with you hosting, I thought this might be a good opportunity… for us to catch up."

Ozpin scoffed, taking his seat behind his desk. "I can certainly appreciate quality time between two friends. However, the small fleet outside my window has me somewhat concerned."

"Well, concern is what brought them here."

"I understand travel between kingdoms has become increasingly difficult—"

"Oz," Ironwood chided, "you and I both know why I brought those men."

Ozpin sighed. "We are in a time of peace. Shows of power like this are just going to give off the wrong impression."

"But, if what Qrow said is true, then—"

"If what Qrow said is true, then we will handle it tactfully. It's the Vytal Festival. A time to celebrate unity and peace. Therefore, I think it best you try to avoid scaring people by transporting hundreds of soldiers halfway across the continent."

"I'm just being cautious."

"As am I. Which is why we will continue to train the best huntsmen and huntresses we can."

"Believe me, I am." Ironwood put his mug down on Ozpin's desk and turned to leave. But before he did, he said, "But ask yourself this: do you honestly believe your children can win a war?"

"I hope they never have to."

Somewhere in the deep reaches of Beacon's library, a fierce war was already brewing. There were four contenders each vying for dominance of Remnant. Unfortunately, only two of the competitors were into it, while one had no idea what she was doing, and the last couldn't believe she was wasting her time like this.

"Alright," whispered Ruby to herself. "Alright." She pointed across the table at her sister. "Yang Xiao Long! Prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!"

"I deploy… the Atlesian Air Fleet!" said Ruby with enough drama to cause Yang to gasp. She smacked the card on the game board between them. "Looks like I get to fly over your Ursae and attack your walls directly." Ruby made naroo-flying type noises followed by an explosion with her mouth.

Yang gasped again. "You fiend!"

"And, since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time only lasts one turn."

Yang laughed causing Ruby to gasp. "Pretty sneaky, sis. But you just activated my trap card! Giant Nevermore!" Yang slammed her fist on the table and several of the game pieces fell over.

"What?!"

"If I roll a seven or higher, fatal feathers will slice your fleet in two!"

"But, if you roll a six or lower, the Nevermore will turn on your own forces."

"That's a chance I'm willing to take."

As Ruby and Yang fully engaged themselves in their risky board game, throwing playing pieces around and wailing and gnashing their teeth, team JNPR was just one table over trying to get some studying done. Ren was embroiled in a text book while Nora snoozed right next to him dreaming of pancakes and producing an epic sized snot bubble. Pyrrha was looking over some notes and glanced at Jaune as he read an _X-Ray and Vav_ comic. She cleared her throat, taking the comic from him and slapped a textbook in his hands instead. Jaune sulked until a pewter Nevermore piece hit him the head and he looked at team RWBY. Yang was gloating about her recent victory while tears streamed down Ruby's eyes.

"Well, Weiss; it's your turn," said Yang.

Weiss looked down at the cards in her hand. "I have… absolutely no idea what's going on."

Yang sidled up to Weiss. "Look, it's easy. You're playing as Vacuo which means all Vacuo based cards come with a bonus."

"Huh?"

Yang started rearranging Weiss' hand for her. "See, you've got Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge… ooh-ooh! Resourceful Raider. See, now you can take Ruby's discarded Air Fleet—"

"No!" wailed Ruby.

"And put it in your hand."

"Okay."

"And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance boost against natural hazards, you could use Sandstorm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom. Just know," said Yang, taking a serious tone, "that I will not forget this declaration of war."

"And that means…?"

"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant!" Ruby sniffled.

Weiss stood, laughing evilly. "Yes. Fear the almighty power of my forces, cower as they pillage your homes, and weep as they take your children from your very arms—"

"Trap card," said Yang.

"Huh?"

Yang rearranged the pieces on the board with blinding speed. "Your forces have been destroyed."

Weiss sat back down as tears streaked down her face. "I hate this game of emotions we play!"

Suddenly, Ruby appeared, crying on her shoulder. "Stay strong, Weiss. We'll make it through this together."

"Shut up! Don't touch me," said Weiss, embracing Ruby fully.

Yang leaned back and put her arms behind her head. "Alright, Blake. You're up."

"Huh? Oh, um." Blake had been in her own world. Not day dreaming, but worrying. "Sorry, what am I doing?"

"You're playing as Vale trying to conquer the kingdoms of Remnant."

"Right."

"Hey!" said Jaune as he walked up. "Can I play?"

"Sorry, Jaune," replied Ruby. "We've already got four people."

"Besides," Weiss added, "this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt you possess."

"Uh, you attacked your own naval fleet two turns ago," said Yang.

"Bring it on, Ice Queen," dared Jaune. "I'll have you know that I've been told that I'm a natural born leader."

"By whom? Your mother?"

"And Pyrrha."

"Hello, again," said Pyrrha from behind them.

"C'mon. Let me play your hand for a turn."

"I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo."

"Why not? You've trusted me with way more important stuff before. I mean, you told us all that Blake is secretly a F—"

"Fun-loving person!" finished Pyrrha, rushing to cover Jaune's mouth. "Who we all admire and respect."

Jaune laughed nervously as Ruby and Weiss smiled nervously. Blake gave them all the stink eye.

"Right," said Jaune. "That." He scratched the back of his head. "Ladies, enjoy your battle."

"Sup, losers?" said someone new coming from behind Blake.

"Hey, Sun," said Ruby.

"Ruby. Yang. Blake. Ice Queen."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" said Weiss.

"I never got the chance to formally introduce you all to my old friend," continued Sun.

"Uh, aren't libraries for reading?" said Neptune.

"Thank you!" said Ren.

Nora snorted awake. "Pancakes!"

"Shut up," said Sun. "Don't be a nerd."

Neptune had a fit. "Intellectual," he corrected. "Okay? Thank you. I'm Neptune," he finally said.

"So, Neptune," started Weiss, "where are you from?"

"Haven," he said, walking over to her as cool as could be. "And I don't believe I've caught your name, Snow Angel?"

Weiss blushed. "Um, I'm Weiss."

"Are you kidding me?!" whispered Jaune.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Neptune, eyeing her over.

Sun said to Blake, "I never took you as the board game-playing type."

"Right. Well, I think I'm done playing actually," she said abruptly. Blake left without giving Sun a second glance. "I'll see you guys later."

Once she was gone, Sun shrugged.

"Women," commented Nora.

Blake went back to her dorm where she was plagued by memories of the previous semester when she confronted Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. But there had been a part later that night that no one else knew about. After RWBY and Sun had called the Vale police, they had been taken to the police department where each was questioned about the night's events.

Ozpin had been called to investigate matters for himself and pick up his students. While he was there, he spoke to Blake one-on-one. "Well," he began, "this has certainly been an eventful evening. I'm sure after a night of thwarting attempted robbery, you probably just want to go home and take a nap. But… I was hoping we could have a chance to talk."

"Of course," said Blake.

"Wonderful. As you know, in order to enroll in my academy, students must first pass a rigorous entrance exam. Most applicants spend years training at one of the many combat schools around the world. You are one of the few who did not. And you passed the exam with flying colors."

"I was raised outside the kingdoms," replied Blake. "If you can't fight, you can't survive."

"Well, you have most certainly survived, Blake. I admire your drive, and I am proud to run a school that accepts individuals from all walks of life. Rich, poor, human…" Ozpin took a sip from his mug, "Faunus."

Blake eyed him. She was both surprised and not at the same time.

"Why do you wear that bow, Blake? Why hide who you are?"

"You may be willing to accept the Faunus, Professor Ozpin. But your species is not."

"True. But we are taking strides to lessen the divide."

"With all due respect," said Blake, her irritation rising, "you need to start taking some larger strides. Until then, I'd rather avoid any unnecessary attention. I want people to see me for who I am, not what I am."

"And what are you?"

"I, uh… I don't understand what you're asking."

"How did you know the White Fang would be at the shipyard tonight?"

"I didn't," she said honestly. "I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

"You wouldn't have been the first," said Ozpin with a small grin. "But what happened tonight was not an isolated incident. I may be your headmaster, but I am also a huntsman. And it is my sworn duty to protect this world from the forces that conspire against it.

"Blake. Are you sure there is nothing else you would like to tell me?"

"I'm sure," she said with barely any hesitation.

"Very well. Thank you for your time, Miss Belladonna," said Ozpin flatly. He got up to leave, but turned back. "But if you ever need to talk to me, please, don't hesitate to ask."

Suddenly, the door to her dorm snapped open transporting Blake back to the present.

"Ugh!" growled Yang, storming in. "We never should have let him play."

Ruby giggled. "You're just mad because the new guy beat you."

Blake got up and started heading for the door.

"See, if you had just attacked when I told you, none of this would have happened."

"Stop!"

Blake did stop. She looked over her shoulder and Weiss was pointing at her.

"Lately, you've been quiet, anti-social, and moody."

"Uh, have you met Blake?" asked Yang.

"Which I get," continued Weiss. "It's kind of your 'thing.' But you've been doing it more than usual. Which, quite frankly, is unacceptable. You made a promise to me, to all of us, that you would let us know if something was wrong. So, Blake Belladonna! What! Is! Wrong?!" said Weiss, getting in her face before backing up a suitable distance.

"I just…" Blake thought about lying, she thought about telling them anything else. This was her problem and she wanted to deal with it her way. But before she could stop herself, an emotional gate swung open and she blurted the truth. "I just don't understand how everyone can be so calm!"

"You're still thinking about Torchwick?" asked Ruby.

"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it! Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it."

"Ozpin told us not to worry," said Yang. "Between the police and huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it."

"Well I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do."

Yang looked at Ruby. They both shrugged. They were game to kick butt any time anywhere.

Weiss however took a breath. "Okay. Between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, and fighting for freedom, I'm sure the three of you think you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells."

"Ne'er-do-who?" said Ruby.

"But, let me once again be the voice of reason: we're students. We're not ready to handle this sort of situation."

"Well, yeah but—"

"We're not ready!" firmed Weiss, shutting up Ruby.

"And we may never be ready!" bit Blake. "We can't just wait with lives at stake until they think we're ready. Our enemies are gathering. There's a storm out there and it's growing deadly!And it's coming, whether we're ready or not."

Ruby suddenly got an idea and looked very excited. "Okay! All in favor of becoming the youngest huntresses to single handedly bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale, say aye!"

"Yes!" said Yang. She turned to Blake. "I love it when you're feisty."

"Well," started Weiss, "I suppose it could be fun."

"None of you said aye," lamented Ruby.

"Alright then," said Blake with a smile. "We're in this together." She somehow felt relieved.

"Let's hatch a plan!" said Ruby.

"Yeah!" agreed Yang.

Ruby gasped and looked horrified. "I left my board game in the library."

Weiss shook her head. "We're doomed."

"I'll be right back!" Ruby ran out into the hall and collided with somebody. "Ow. Oh, geez. I'm sorry. Are you okay?" she said to a girl wearing a foreign uniform.

"I'm fine," said the girl, offering Ruby her hand. "Just… be more careful in the future."

"Okay," said Ruby, taking the girl's hand. "Sorry, again. I'm Ruby. Are you new?"

"Visiting from Haven, actually," said another girl, stepping up between the first girl and a tall guy.

Ruby looked at the trio before her. The girl she bumped into had shoulder length lime colored hair while the boy had messy grey hair and a cocky smile. As Ruby looked at them, she thought she detected a faint, dangerous swagger to their personalities. But neither was quite as intimidating as the aura radiating off the girl in the middle. She had long black hair and for some reason, she really seemed out of place, almost like she was too old to be attending Beacon. Her aura was also dangerous, but there was no swagger to it. It was real and very intimidating.

Ruby shivered under her practiced gaze that seemed to betray just a hint of burning intensity. But then a stray thought interrupted Ruby's feelings. "Oh! You're here for the festival. Oh! But exchange students have their own dormitory."

"I guess we just got turned around," said the boy.

"Oh, no worries. Happens all the time. Your building is just… east of here."

"Thanks," said the dangerous feeling girl. "Maybe we'll see you around." The trio began to leave but they didn't seem to be making their way towards the nearest exit or even the east exit.

This was lost on Ruby though. "Yeah, maybe. Oh. And welcome to Beacon."

Cinder couldn't help a smirk from spreading on her face. The irony was just too delicious.


	14. RWBY: Painting the Town

The revelation that Penny was not a real person shocked Ruby. She couldn't quite wrap her head around it. "Penny… I don't understand."

"Most girls are born, but I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an aura." Then with a touch of sadness, "I'm not real."

Ruby grabbed Penny's hands. She took another look at the metal under the torn skin. But then she clutched Penny's hands with hers. "Of course, you are." Remembering everything she knew about Penny, recounting all their experiences together, Ruby had had a revelation. "You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?"

"I don't…" Penny was startled by this new idea. But there was something else she found even more surprising. "You're taking this extraordinarily well."

"You're not like those things we saw back there," said Ruby, meaning the new Atlesian knights. "You've got a heart. And a soul! I can feel it."

Penny shed a few tears. "Oh, Ruby!" She embraced Ruby tightly and shook her from side to side. "You're the best friend anyone could ever have!"

Ruby groaned. While she appreciated the sentiment, this hug was almost as bad as one of Yang's. "I can see why your father would want to protect such a _delicate_ flower."

Penny released Ruby. "Oh, he's very sweet. My father is the one that built me. I'm sure you would just love him."

"Wow. He built you all by himself?"

"Well, almost. He had some help from Mr. Ironwood."

"The general? Wait. Is that why those soldiers were after you?"

"They like to protect me, too," said Penny innocently.

"Pft! They don't think you can protect yourself?"

"They're not sure if I'm ready yet. One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world and test myself in the tournament."

Penny's explanation seemed sound, but there was one bit that sounded off. "What are you talking about? Save the world from what? We're in a time of peace."

"That's not what Mr. Ironwood said," said Penny, sounding confused.

Suddenly, they heard of the Atlesian soldiers shout, "Check down here!"

"You have to hide!" said Penny. She picked Ruby up over her head and started taking her over to a dumpster.

Ruby wailed. "Penny! What are you doing?! You don't have to go with them! I can help you!"

Penny dropped Ruby in the dumpster. "It's okay, Ruby. They're not bad people; I just don't want you to get in trouble. Just promise that you won't tell anyone about my secret. Okay?"

"I promise," said Ruby as she ducked down.

"There she is!" said one of the soldiers. They ran up to Penny.

"Salutations, officers!"

"Why were you running?" asked the second. "And what happened to the other girl?"

"What girl? I've been by myself all day." Penny hiccupped.

"You shouldn't cause such a scene."

"Are you okay?" asked the first.

"Just a scratch," said Penny, showing them her hands. They nearly fainted.

"Penny, your father isn't going to be happy about this."

"Please, just come with us."

"Yes, sir," said Penny as if the idea of running was completely foreign to her.

A bright yellow sports bike rumbled and squealed through a shadier part of Vale. Blonde and blue-haired figures rode atop it and came to a stop outside a warehouse with music blasting out of it.

Yang took off her helmet and dismounted the bike. "C'mon," she said to Neptune. "My friend's right in here."

"Cool…" said Neptune dazed. Yang's driving style left him worse for wear with his hair disheveled and his goggles slightly askew. He took a minute to compose himself. "And where exactly is 'here'?"

The warehouse was actually a club, Junior's Club. Inside, men in black suits and bowlers with red ties and glasses carried out menial tasks such as organizing the liquor and setting up equipment. Junior was standing behind the bar straightening his tie. He wanted everything to be better than perfect for the grand re-opening of his club. It had been closed ever since that blonde girl trashed it, him, and his men. It wasn't something he cared to remember, but thanks to Blondie, his right knee had developed a dull ache whenever it was about to rain. Suddenly, he heard his men shouting.

"Hurry! Seal the door! She's coming!"

Two of Junior's men burst through the front doors and held them closed. They looked like they had just seen a Nevermore.

"What're you two idiots doing?" asked Junior.

"She's back!" one of them screamed right before the front door was blasted open.

"I Burn" started playing right on cue as Yang sauntered in. "Guess who's back?!"

At least two dozen Dust submachine guns filled her field of vision. Some of Junior's men held two.

"Yeah…" said Neptune, bringing up the rear. "So could you define 'friend' for me?" Some of Junior's men pointed their guns at him.

"Stop! Stop!" ordered Junior. "Nobody shoot." He pushed his way to Yang. "Blondie. You're here? Why?"

" _You_ still owe me a drink," said Yang, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him off toward the bar.

"Whoa," shuddered Neptune. "What a woman." He then looked to his left and saw the Malachite sisters. He gave them his coolest "Sup?"

They pointed their noses in the air and walked off with a chorus of "Whatever."

After a few minutes of interrogation, Junior slammed a glass on the bar. "I don't know!"

"How could you not know?" bit Yang.

"I haven't talked to him. I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here. He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever came back."

"So where did they go?!" said Neptune quickly.

Junior glared at him. "What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back." He looked at Yang. "Who is this guy?"

"Don't worry about him. Worry about me if I don't find out what I want!"

"I already told you everything! Torchwick hired my boys and I guess he wasn't happy with them. Which is something I can relate to!" he shouted at a few lollygaggers.

"Ugh!" groaned Yang. "Come on, Neptune," she said, leaving.

"We get everything we need?"

"Well, we got everything we can. Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck."

Elsewhere in the city, Blake examined three chalk lines drawn on the side of a building resembling a claw mark. She peered around the corner and saw two young Faunus allowed through a non-descript crack in a wall. "This is it," she told Sun.

"You sure?"

She glared at him.

"Alright, fine."

Blake led him towards the crack untying the bow on her head. A rather beefy White Fang member let them inside and gave them each a mask.

When they were out of earshot, Sun said, "I don't get it. If you think what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"

"The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to put on the faces of monsters."

"Grimm masks?!" said Sun, realizing the connection to the scary looking mask he held. "That's kinda dark."

"So was the guy who started it."

"Always sunshine and rainbows with you."

Blake glared at Sun again as she donned her mask.

They were led into another warehouse where the main room was being used as some sort of White Fang recruitment and orientation seminar. Older, uniformed members of the White Fang stood on the left side, and the menagerie of new recruits was on the right. Sun and Blake joined the new recruits before a stage that had a White Fang banner draped above it.

On the stage was a tall and well-toned member of the White Fang that Blake recognized. He was known only as the "Lieutenant." He had tribal tattoos adorning his upper left arm and he wore a highly stylized Grimm mask at all times. Its eyes were red slits with a red tribal streak leading from either eye to the bottom of the mask. He was known for being particularly brutal among the Fang with his weapon of choice being a chainsaw. He also bore a special and particularly intense hatred for the Schnee family.

"Thank you all for coming," said the Lieutenant in a gruff voice. "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours. I can assure you he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long."

Amidst cheers and jeers alike, out stepped Roman Torchwick. Blake was surprisingly unsurprised. What did amaze her though was that Torchwick seemed to have an understudy. Behind him and hiding in the shadows was another human; a short, slim girl. Her hair was tri-colored in pink, white, and black, and she carried a parasol lazily over her shoulder. But what bothered Blake the most about her was that she seemed to be watching Torchwick with a glint of admiration that almost bordered on worship. It made Blake's skin crawl.

"Thank you, thank you," said Torchwick. "Hold your applause."

A young, female Faunus, newly recruited, was outraged. "What's a human doing here?!"

"I'm glad you asked, deery," replied Torchwick. "Now, I will be the first to admit that humans are the _worst_. Case-in-point. So I understand why you'd like to see us all locked away, or better yet, killed. But before the claws come out, I would like to mention that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control. The people pulling the strings. The dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!"

"Yeah!" someone cheered.

"Government, military, even the schools. They're all to blame for your lot in life. And they're all pests that need to be dealt with. Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around. No offense to any rodents in the room." Torchwick snapped his fingers and the White Fang curtain behind him dropped revealing the all new Atlesian Paladin complete with White Fang markings. The crowd went wild.

Sun nearly fainted. "That's a big robot…"

"How did he get that?" asked Blake.

Torchwick continued, "As some of you have heard, this right here is Atlas' newest line of defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my… employer, we've managed to snag a few before they go on the market.

"Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's _fine_. But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?"

All the White Fang, new and veteran, started cheering and chanting ready to get a bite of the action.

Blake turned to Sun. "We should get out of here." They were examining the exits when the Lieutenant made their situation harder.

"Would all new recruits please come forward."

The line of Faunus obscuring Blake and Sun from the stage advanced. "What're we going to do?" asked Sun.

"I'm thinking." Blake looked around for possible exits. The windows seemed like the obvious solution, but what was the best way to get out of them without causing a scene?

Torchwick was leaning against the paladin smoking a cigar, his understudy at his side. As the Faunus came forward, he recognized two figures. He threw his cigar down.

"He sees us," said Sun.

Blake looked at Torchwick. He began to approach them. When suddenly, something grey caught her eye. She looked to her right and saw a fuse box. She turned to Sun, "He can't see in the dark." She took out Gambol Shroud and shot the box.

Torchwick ordered to the darkness, "Don't let them get away!"

There was a brief scuffle as Blake and Sun incapacitated the nearest White Fang before making for the window. Amongst the noise however was the sound of an engine revving up.

Moments later Sun and Blake burst through the warehouse's window and high-tailed it out of there. But before they could disappear from view, the wall shattered and the paladin, now containing Torchwick, gave chase.

Blake and Sun took to the rooftops to make good their escape, but the paladin, though it needed to use the streets due to its bulk, was able to keep pace.

While hurtling obstacles and jumping from roof to roof, Sun asked Blake, "So you wouldn't happen to have, oh, I don't know, some form of backup?!"

Blake took out her scroll. "On it. Everyone, if you can hear me, we need—"

"Help!" shouted Sun. "They've got a robot. And it's big! Really big! That Torchwick guy did it. But like, he's controlling it or something."

"Where are you guys?!" asked Yang.

"Hurry!" replied Sun as he, Blake, and the paladin ran past Yang and Neptune.

"I think that was them," said Neptune.

"Yeah, I got it!" Yang gunned her bike and took off after them.

Sun and Blake ran out of rooftops and took to a suspended highway. They jumped from car to car while Torchwick just knocked the vehicles out of his way. Yang and Neptune quickly caught up.

"We gotta slow it down!" said Yang.

"Got it." Neptune reached for his gun, but then almost fell off the bike as Yang took evasive action dodging cars left and right as the paladin knocked them out of its way. Finally, there was an island of stability and Neptune was able to bring his gun out. He shot the paladin a few times in the back, knocking it off balance.

As Yang brought the bike closer, Neptune flourished his gun and it transformed into a trident. He jumped at the paladin and drove his trident deep within its exoskeleton.

Sun saw Neptune having a difficult time hanging on and created copies of himself made out of golden energy. He shot two of them at the mech where they made solid impacts, but failed to stop the monstrosity.

Sun took out his bo and jumped at the paladin. But its top half spun around independent of its lower half. The centrifugal force bucked Neptune off and he crashed into Sun. The two of them were last seen flying beyond the barriers of the highway.

Suddenly, Blake heard her name called. "I'm in position!" said Weiss as she dropped down from another highway.

Torchwick charged her absolutely confident that he was going to mow her down. But Weiss, with a dainty twirl and a flourish of her sword, iced the pavement on the highway. The paladin lost traction, slipped, and slid out of control through the highway's EM barriers. It fell but managed to land on its feet on the ground several stories below where Ruby was waiting with Crescent Rose armed and ready. The rest of Team RWBY joined her.

Torchwick laughed. Now that he had the paladin, he was absolutely positive he could take on these four little girls and win. He advanced.

"Freezer Burn!" ordered Ruby, jumping back with Blake.

Weiss covered the ground again with ice as Yang jumped into the air. She came back down punching a fire Dust shell into the ice sheet. The area was immediately filled with a thick fog that befuddled even the paladin's search sensors.

The girls ran and jumped around the paladin making opportune strikes when they could. Torchwick fired blindly into the fog landing a lucky shot on Yang before getting hit by Ruby. Its armor was a lot harder than she thought. But Ruby had an answer for that. "Checkmate!"

Blake and Weiss surged forward able to make the paladin retreat with their furious dancing blades. However, they only managed to do superficial damage beyond breaking a few sensors.

Torchwick took back the offensive and tried to blast the girls apart with the paladin's guns and assortment of missiles. One hit Weiss and threw her back, but knowing that Blake could keep all the missiles at bay with some fancy blade work and enough speed, she shot a glyph at Blake's feet. A giant clock face appeared and its hands began spinning at an incredible rate charging Blake with the temporary power to cheat time.

Torchwick launched another salvo, but it was no match for Blake as she quickly sliced and diced each missile blowing them up before they could get anywhere near their targets.

"Ladybug!" commanded Ruby as she shot by. She and Blake took to the paladin's legs and slashed at them in quick, passing strikes. Torchwick fired, but missed as both Ruby and Blake jumped skyward. A beeping sound alerted him as two objects quickly descended on him and with two mighty slashes, one of the paladin's arms was taken off.

As Blake and Ruby retreated, Yang jumped onto the back of the paladin and started to unleash hell. With each hit, she violently shook the paladin and Torchwick both.

Thinking fast, Torchwick accelerated the paladin backwards and smashed Yang into a pillar that held up the highway. As she fell, Torchwick pulverized Yang with the paladin's fist sending her through the pillar.

"Yang!" called Blake.

"Don't worry," advised Ruby. "With each hit, she gets stronger. And she uses that energy to fight back."

Yang got up slowly. She had been hit harder than she ever had been before. She felt the pain. Every bone, muscle, and nerve urged her to stay down, to stay out of the fight. But from the pain, a new feeling was growing. It rose within her and set her ablaze.

Torchwick went for another punch, just as powerful as the last, but Yang stopped it with a single hand. She tossed her hair out of her eyes and revealed the blood red they had become. She growled, and with a mighty battle cry, she gave an even mightier punch shattering the paladin's arm all the way up to its shoulder. Torchwick, his face now full of warning lights, retaliated by kicking Yang, sending her flying past Blake and Ruby.

Before Ruby could even say "Bumblebee!" Blake had tossed Gambol Shroud at Yang and held onto the ribbon as Yang caught the other end. Blake pulled it taut and swung Yang around. She went to kick the paladin, but Torchwick dodged at the last second.

"We have to slow it down!" said Ruby.

"And how do you propose we do that?" asked Weiss.

"Ice Flower!"

Ruby and Weiss flourished their weapons. Ruby brought Crescent Rose down and cocked it while Weiss formed an ice-based glyph in front of it. Ruby fired as fast as she could and bullets laced with ice Dust struck the paladin freezing its gadgets, gizmos, and joints.

Blake still had Yang at the end of the Gambol Shroud and swung her partner forward again. Yang's anger had gone unabated and her hair was now showing signs of flame. She came around again and put all her strength into one last punch.

The hit connected with the paladin's face and it was thrown across the area, shattering on impact and revealing Torchwick. He got up and dusted himself off. "Just got this thing cleaned!" He looked up and saw Yang. She fired a shot at him.

Torchwick cowered but had no need as a petite girl with tri-colored hair dropped before him and held out her parasol which sheltered them both form the blast. She stepped back, smiling smugly.

"Ladies!" said Torchwick as they approached. "Ice Queen."

"Hey!"

"Always a pleasure. Neo, if you would."

The girl bowed, but Yang had had enough. She charged again and punched—the girl and Torchwick shattered like glass.

Yang quickly recognized the illusion and looked around. A Bullhead airship passed by with the smug faces of Torchwick and Neo disappearing behind its closing hatch. The others joined Yang.

"So I guess he got himself a new henchman."

"Yeah," said Weiss. "I guess she really made our plans… fall apart." Weiss snickered. Even Ruby smiled.

But Yang, "No. Just no."

"What! But you do it!"

"There's a time and a place for jokes."

"Was this not it?"

"No. It just wasn't very good."

"At least I'm trying!"

Blake then said to Yang, "You're just jealous because you didn't say it first."

"Hey!"

Suddenly, Ruby had a revelation. "Hey. Where are Sun and Neptune?"

At a food stand not too far way called A Simple Wok Noodle House, Sun and Neptune were helping themselves to the house special. "They're probably fine. Right?" said Neptune, trying to assuage his guilt.

"Probably," said Sun, stuffing his face.


	15. RWBY: Extracurricular

Cardin was piledrived into the ground. Pyrrha followed it up with a vicious backflip that kicked him into the air. He landed on his upper back knocking the air out of him. The lights in the arena came up and a buzzer went off.

"And that's the match," said Glynda.

"Lucky shot…" groaned Cardin before passing out.

"Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

"Thank you, professor."

"All right. Now, I know that's a tough act to follow," Pyrrha beating all of Team CRDL, "but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" Glynda looked up into the stands and laid eyes on Blake who had her eyes glued to a book. "Miss Belladonna."

Blake looked up, quickly shutting the book and looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you—"

"I'll do it," said someone from behind Blake.

Glynda adjusted her glasses. "Mercury, is it? Very well, let's find you an opponent."

"Actually," said Mercury, "I want to fight _her_."

"Me?" said Pyrrha.

"I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished a match. I _recommend_ you choose someone else." Glynda really didn't think Mercury stood a chance against Pyrrha. And she was mildly alarmed that anyone would want to fight Pyrrha after just witnessing her take down four huntsmen by herself. Was this boy crazy, arrogant, or… was he up to something?

"No! It's fine," retorted Pyrrha. "I'd be happy to oblige."

Mercury came down from the stands and sauntered into the arena. His approach was completely casual; he didn't look like he was worried at all about facing someone who could take on four opponents at once. He even smiled. This worried Emerald as she sat back in the stands. Was Mercury's brash talent going to betray them?

Mercury struck a guard. He waited a second and then charged. He released a vicious side kick that Pyrrha blocked and made a low slash to his lone, defenseless foot. Mercury fell, but recovered quickly, flipping and spinning away.

Pyrrha charged. She and Mercury went blow for blow, foot against sword and shield. Pyrrha saw an opening and pushed Mercury back with a strong shield charge. Mercury slid to a halt still on his feet. He made an impressed grunt and nodded.

Ruby turned to Emerald. "Hey. Your friend's doing pretty good."

Emerald forced a smile.

Mercury charged and released a barrage of his fanciest, highest, end-over-end kicks. Several made contact with Pyrrha's shield and she was forced to retreat. Mercury kicked against her shield several more times, but while Pyrrha blocked, she threw her sword behind her where it spun in the air somewhat unnaturally. Mercury noticed, as well as the small grin and glint in her eye as she blocked Mercury's next kick with her forearm.

Pyrrha caught her sword and tried to attack, but Mercury was faster and managed to kick it out of her hand. Having disarmed her, he felt he had the advantage and tried for a spin kick, but then he barely missed Pyrrha, her hand just beyond his foot, and he spun off balance.

As Mercury fell to his knee, he knew that he shouldn't have missed. Pyrrha had a trick up her sleeve. A very subtle one that helped to explain why she won all the time. Clever girl.

Pyrrha charged with her shield over her head and Mercury used a kick-shot to repel off it. Having gained some distance, he turned to Glynda. "I forfeit."

Pyrrha gasped and ran past him so she wouldn't collide into him. "You… don't even want to try?" she asked, shocked.

"What's the point? You're a world-renowned fighter. We're obviously leagues apart."

Pyrrha was disgruntled. Mercury should have known that before getting into the ring with her. But Pyrrha also pouted. She enjoyed sparring and she enjoyed winning, but only when her opponent did his best. Mercury wasn't willing to do his best. And while his statement seemed true, it didn't sound honest. Pyrrha, as well as Glynda, got the distinct impression that he was holding back.

"In that case," began Glynda, "Pyrrha Nikos is the victor of the match. Again. Next time you may want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent."

"Will do," said Mercury with a flippant wave.

Emerald exhaled in relief that Mercury hadn't done anything too stupid. But she was also pleased that she had seen what Mercury had.

Just then, the bell went off. "That is all for today," said Glynda. "And remember, the dance is this weekend. But you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept _any_ excuses."

As Team RWBY left the class, Team SSSN was loitering just outside the door. Sun ran up to Blake. "Hey, Blake." He noticed the dark circles under her eyes. "Uh, you doing okay?"

"I'm fine," she said curtly.

"Alright," he said with a shrug. "So I hear there's this dance going on this weekend—sounds pretty lame. But I was thinking, you and me, not as lame."

"What?"

"The dance. It's this weekend. You wanna go or what?"

"I don't have time for a stupid dance."

Sun recoiled.

"I thought you of all people would get that," said Blake, walking away.

Sun slumped. Was it something he said? Was it the fact that he and Neptune hadn't helped to finish the fight with Torchwick?

The rest of Team RWBY exchanged looks. They couldn't help feeling sorry for Sun, and they knew that something was wrong with Blake. They confronted her back at their dorm. Blake was not pleased with what they had to say. "You what?!"

"We want you to go to the dance," said Ruby.

"That's ridiculous!"

"Blake," began Yang, "we're worried about you. This investigation is beginning to mess with your head."

Weiss added, "You can't sleep, you hardly eat, and to be honest, your grades have been suffering."

"You think I care about grades?! People's lives are at stake!"

"We know," said Yang. "And we're all still trying to figure out what Torchwick is up to."

"Thanks to you and Sun," said Ruby, "we know they're operating somewhere outside of southeast Vale."

"And!" added Weiss, "The Schnee Company singled out Vale as the primary target for Dust robberies over the last few months."

"Don't forget about their missing military tech, too," said Yang still upset about the fight.

"There's still unanswered questions," argued Blake. Her eyes were wide and dried out. She looked like she was possessed or crazy.

"Blake, you won't be able to find anything if you can't even keep your eyes open," said Ruby.

"All we're asking is that you take it easy for one day," added Yang.

"It'll be fun!" assured Weiss. "Yang and I will make sure of it."

"Yeah!" said Yang, bouncing on the bed. "We're planning the whole event."

"Team CFVY's away mission lasted longer than expected."

"So Weiss and I were asked to pick up where they left off."

Ruby shook her head. Whose bright idea was that?

"And we can make sure you have the perfect night," Yang finished.

"And once it's all over," began Weiss, "we'll return to our search, rested and ready."

"So, what do you think?" asked Ruby.

Blake was quiet for a moment. "I think this is a colossal waste of time. I'll be in the library," she said as she left.

Yang sighed. "Great."

"She can't keep going like this," stated Weiss.

Suddenly, there was a knock at their door. Who could be calling at this hour? Weiss answered the door, but all three of them jumped when they saw Jaune armed with an acoustic guitar.

"Weiss!" he sang, strumming. He gave her a wink and a smile.

Weiss shut the door in his face.

"Oh, come on," said Jaune through the door. "Open the door. I promise not to sing."

Weiss sighed and facepalmed. She opened the door.

"I lied!" sang Jaune. "Weiss Sch-a-nee… will you accomp-a-ny me… to the dance on! Sunday?" he said with enthusiastic strumming.

Both Ruby and Yang were thoroughly amused. Ruby was eager to see if this approach would work. But Weiss was not amused. She was thoroughly humiliated.

"Are you done?"

Jaune shrugged. "Yes?"

"No," said Weiss, shutting the door. She looked at her teammates. "What?"

"And that is why they call you the 'Ice Queen'," said Yang. "Personally, I'd love it if a boy asked me out with a song."

Ruby suddenly fell over for some reason.

"All my life, boys have only cared about the perks of my last name. Besides," said Weiss smugly, "I already have a date in mind."

"Uh-huh?" said Yang with a grin. "Ice water for Ice Queen?"

"Quiet you!"

Later that night on an abandoned rooftop, swords clanged and blades whirled. Pyrrha and Jaune were sparring, and for the first time, Jaune was actually enjoying himself. His parrying was superb and timely as well as his counter attacks which he performed without any prodding. He smiled.

Pyrrha was surprised at first, but she couldn't allow Jaune to get the best of her just yet. If he did, he wouldn't have anything to work toward. She gave him a painful reminder of the distance he still had to go by sweeping his legs out from under him with her own.

Pyrrha still laughed, though. It was heartening to see her student blossom. "Well done. Your swordplay's improved immensely," she said, helping him up.

"Couldn't have done it without ya," said Jaune, dusting himself off.

"So, are you ready to move onto Aura?"

"I'm actually thinking that maybe we skip Aura tonight. I might go for a jog or something."

"Come _on_!" said Pyrrha sharply. "I know you get frustrated, but you must keep trying. I'm sure we'll discover your semblance any day now."

"That's… not it. It's just…" Jaune sighed. "It's dumb."

"What is it?" asked Pyrrha, beating her eyelashes. " _Jaune_. You know you can tell me," she said, stepping closer than necessary and putting her hand on his shoulder.

"It's… Weiss."

"Oh," said Pyrrha. Her hand fell. She tried to sound upbeat. "What about her?"

"I asked her to the dance and she shot me down. Big surprise, right?" He laughed nervously.

"Well," began Pyrrha, straining to act neutral, "I believe the saying goes, 'there are plenty of fish in the sea'." What Pyrrha actually wanted to tell him was, 'Forget about the little chick in white. She doesn't care about you and she's so uptight. Let me put a smile on your face.'

"That's easy for you to say," said Jaune, half-laughing. "You've probably got guys clamoring over each other just to ask you out."

Pyrrha laughed sadly. "You'd be surprised…"

"Oh, please!" said Jaune, turning away. "If you don't get a date to the dance, I'll wear a dress. Heh!"

Pyrrha looked at the ground. She had been watching Jaune for a while chasing his tail and it drove her crazy. He'd never get Weiss. She didn't see the things in Jaune that Pyrrha saw. It just wasn't meant to be.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha had been watching and helping Jaune, hoping that he'd see that she was the girl he'd been waiting for. She had spent a lot of time wondering why everything she did just couldn't catch his eye. Maybe she was too tall or not his type, but she wasn't going to give up. She could get it right. After all, being close to Jaune was her only intention.

Pyrrha had thought that Jaune could figure it out, but she decided that she'd have to be more aggressive. If she could just get him alone and make him her own, she knew that it could be divine. Pyrrha was going to make her dream come true.

Elsewhere in the night, three villains were conspiring. Emerald and Mercury sat on the floor as the queen bee sat on a bed, running a needle and thread through a black bundle.

"And finally," said Emerald, "Pyrrha Nikos."

"Ah!" responded Cinder. "'The Invincible Girl'."

"She's smart," said Mercury, "but I wouldn't say 'invincible'."

"Do tell."

"Her Semblance is polarity," explained Emerald. "But you'd never know just by watching."

"After she made contact with my boot, she was able to move it around however she wanted," finished Mercury. "But she only made slight adjustments."

"Just enough to make it look like she's untouchable. She doesn't broadcast her power, so it puts her opponents at a disadvantage."

"Hmm," mused Cinder. "People assume she's fated for victory, when she's really taken fate into her own hands." Pyrrha reminded Cinder of someone she knew. She grinned. "Interesting. Add her to the list."

Emerald punched a few keys on her scroll.

" _You_ should be able to take her no problem," commented Mercury.

"It's not about overpowering the enemy," said Cinder. Then she turned hard, "It's about taking away what power they have." She then softened. "And we will. In time."

Mercury groaned. "I hate waiting!"

"Don't worry, Mercury," Cinder soothed, her voice oozing poison. "We have a fun weekend ahead of us."

 _RWBY: The Novelization is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Views, opinions, and thoughts are all my own. Rooster Teeth and RWBY are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC._


	16. RWBY: Burning the Candle

Team RWBY, except for Blake, were in Beacon's main hall setting up for the dance. Ruby had helped for a little while, but her concern for Blake had derailed her good intentions and she landed at one of the tables, elbows on tabletop and head in hands. Suddenly, Weiss slammed down two samples in front of her. "I need you to pick a tablecloth."

Ruby looked at the grey squares before her and made a face. "Aren't they both the same?"

Weiss groaned. "I don't know why I even asked."

Ruby sighed and went back to feeling sorry for Blake.

Yang walked by and dropped a speaker bigger than herself near Ruby. "So, have you picked out a dress yet?"

"What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?"

"Oh, don't worry. She's going." Yang sounded awfully sure. She looked up to see what Weiss was doing. "Weiss! I thought we agreed! No doilies!"

"If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines."

"Your dance is going to have fog machines?"

The girls turned and saw Neptune and Sun.

"We were thinking about it," said Weiss pleasantly to Neptune.

Somewhere in the back of Yang's mind, she thought, 'If Neptune wanted fog machines with no doilies, I bet he could get them.'

"That's pretty cool."

Sun asked, "You ladies all excited for dress-up?"

"Pft. Yeah, right," said Ruby.

"Laugh all you want," said Yang. "I'll be turning heads tomorrow night."

"What are you two wearing?" asked Weiss.

"Uh… this!" said Sun, pointing at his usual threads.

"Ignore him," said Neptune. "For he knows not what he says."

"Hey! I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place."

"Yeah," said Yang. "We noticed." Sun's beach bum look had gotten old with her real fast. About the same time she learned that he took an interest in Blake.

"So, uh… what does Blake think of all this? Is she still being all… you know, Blake-y?"

"Obviously," said Weiss.

"I still can't think of a way to change her mind," said Ruby.

"Guys," began Yang, "trust me. Blake _will_ be at the dance tomorrow." Without expounding further, Yang decided it was time to enact Operation Laser Cat.

While everyone in the school, including her team, was entrenched with the dance, Blake was by herself in the library at one of the computers still looking for information on Torchwick and the White Fang. She had decided to dig in all the familiar, illicit spots online where the Fang talked about their plans, but things were different this time. They had covered their tracks well. Too well. That worried Blake because the Fang had always been a little sloppy and left a trail. Whatever they were up to must have been pretty serious.

Suddenly, a red dot showed on her monitor. It danced in a circle, bobbed up and down, and even shot down to her hand. Blake looked around, irritated, but didn't see anyone who might have done it. She turned back to the computer.

The laser dot appeared again on her hand. Blake shot a nasty look behind her. But still she couldn't find anything. She turned back again.

For a third time, the laser showed up. It moved back and forth and performed figure eights.

Blake growled. Yes, she got it. She was a cat, but this was stupid. And besides, no one should have known. Therefore, someone was just messing with her. Well, she'd fix their wagon. But as she got up to take care of business, she noticed the dot on the ground. She tried to stomp on it just to make herself feel better, but it was too fast.

After a few seconds of trying to stomp it though, Blake realized that she was being led by the dot. She decided that she would let it lead her just until she found out who was doing it. Then she'd make that person pay. But as she rounded a bookshelf, her view was filled with tan and yellow.

"Hello!" sang Yang.

"What're you—?!"

"We need to talk." Yang grabbed Blake and led her somewhere where they could be alone. That somewhere turned out to be an empty lecture hall. Yang made herself comfortable, sitting cross legged on the professor's desk. She invited Blake to join her, but Blake refused, deciding to pace instead.

"Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath."

"I don't want you to stop. I want you to slow down."

"We don't have the luxury to slow down."

"It's not a luxury. It's a necessity."

Blake was even more irritated. "The _necessity_ is stopping Torchwick."

"And we're going to. But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say."

Blake really didn't want to. She wanted to leave. But Yang was her closest friend. For the sake of friendship, she should at least hear her out. Plus, Yang was incredibly strong. If Blake refused too much, Yang would make her listen. So Blake perched lightly on the desk. "Fine."

"Something you may not know is that Ruby and I grew up on Patch. An island just off the coast of Vale. Our parents were huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom would take on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose. And she was like, super mom," Yang said with a smile. "Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. But then, one day she left for a mission and never came back.

"It was tough. Ruby was real torn up, but I think she was too young to really get what was going on, y'know. But my dad, he just kind of shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. Summer wasn't the first love he'd lost, she was the second. The first… was my mom."

Blake gave a small start. She remembered back to when she had first met Ruby and Yang. She remembered how queer she had thought it that they were sisters. One, tall and blonde, the other, short and red-headed. But if they were actually _half_ sisters, that would explain it.

Yang continued. "He wouldn't tell me everything. But I had learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and my uncle Qrow. And that she had left me with him just after I was born. No one had seen her since."

Blake was hooked now. "Why did she leave you?"

Yang sighed. She stood and began drawing a strange symbol on the chalkboard. "That question. 'Why?' I didn't know the answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I would ask anybody I could what they knew about her.

"Then, one day, I found something; what I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers. Or maybe even my mother. I waited for my dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon, and headed out. I must've walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't going to let anything stop me.

"When we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn't care. I had made it. And then I saw them. Those burning red eyes. There we were: a toddler asleep in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well been served on a silver platter. But, as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time." Yang couldn't stop the regret from building up in her voice. "My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night."

Blake stood. "Yang… I'm sorry that happened to you. And I understand what you're trying to tell me but this is different. I'm not a child, and this isn't just a search for answers. I can't just—!"

"I told you!" said Yang. "I'm not telling you to stop. I haven't. To this day I still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me. But I will never allow that search to control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for, Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process, then what's the point?"

"You don't understand! I'm the only one who can do this!"

"No, you don't understand!" Yang's eyes flashed red. "If Roman Torchwick walked through that door, what would you do?!"

"I'd fight him!"

"You'd lose!" said Yang, pushing Blake.

Blake took a step back, needing to catch her balance. "I can stop him!" she said, trying to push Yang back.

"You can't even stop me!" Yang pushed again.

Blake actually fell this time. She looked hurt, but she stood back up. She had a retort, but when Yang approached her, she recoiled, preparing for the worst. But the shove never came. Instead, Yang had embraced her.

"I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest. Not just for you, but for the people you care about and who care about you." Yang started to walk away. But she had one last thought. "And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance," she said with a wink.

Blake was shocked. Not just with how much Yang's concern had touched her, but also from how much her strength had degraded in the time she had spent looking for answers. Perhaps she could do with a break after all.

Elsewhere in Beacon, specifically, Team JNPR's dorm, Ren was just coming out of the bathroom having had a relaxing shower. He sighed contently as he exited carrying his favorite scent of Samurai Shampoo. When suddenly, Jaune approached and grabbed him by the wrist. "We need to talk!"

Jaune sat Ren down next to him on a bed. Ren was still in his towel with his clothes hung up nearby, but Ren's decency was no never mind to Jaune.

"Ren… I'm just gonna come out and say it: you are one of my best friends. These past few months, I feel like we've really bonded. Even though you don't say much. I mean, you're really quiet. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that much about you personally. But darn it! I consider you to be the brother I never had!"

"And I you," replied Ren. He looked at his clothes and started to reach for them.

"Which is why I wanted to get your advice on… girls."

Ren stopped. "Girls?"

"I just… don't know… how to… girls. Um, I guess what I'm asking is, well, how did you and Nora… you know?"

Ren suddenly looked really nervous and started to stammer.

Then they heard a dainty throat clearing. Nora laughed nervously from the next bed. "We're not actually together-together."

"Nora! I said headphones on!"

Ren had had enough of the situation; he was getting cold. "Jaune, what is this all about?"

Jaune sighed. "It's Weiss. I'm completely head over heels for her and she won't even give me a chance. She's cold, but she's also incredible. She's smart and graceful and talented. I mean, have you heard her sing? I just wish she'd take me seriously. I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up."

"Then do it," said a new voice.

"Wha?"

Pyrrha walked in. "Tell her exactly what you've just said. No ridiculous schemes, no pickup lines, just be honest."

"But what if—"

"Jaune; you can't get it wrong if it's the truth." Pyrrha smiled gently.

Jaune took a minute, but then nodded. "You're right. Thanks, Pyrrha. Good talk, Ren," he said, running out.

But after Jaune left, Pyrrha seemed sad and walked off to the corner by herself.

Nora sighed. "Practice what you preach, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha gripped the back of a chair. She squeezed until her knuckles turned white. She wanted to follow her own advice. Jaune meant a lot to her. She remembered a time when she was cold and alone in the dark. It was empty in her life and while from the outside it looked so bright, nothing felt right to her. Her world was like a sky with no sun, like a night that had no day. Her heart was eclipsed by the dark, but then something changed.

She saw a little ray of light come through, just the tiniest sparks that came into view, and then, Jaune made her hope again.

But if Weiss was what Jaune really wanted, she'd swallow her pride, time after time, because he was worth it all.

Bolstered by Pyrrha's advice, Jaune happily and proudly went off to tell Weiss all the great things he felt for her and to ask her to the dance. He even found a flower stall on campus and purchased a single white rose—it cost him all the money he had.

He had heard Weiss was helping to set up for the dance and he went off to the main hall. But when he got there, he saw Weiss run up to Neptune. "Neptune!"

"Oh. Uh, hey. What's up?"

"I know this is a little… unorthodox," she said, fidgeting, "but I wanted to ask you something. Would you like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?"

Jaune was disappointed. Crushed. He finally saw that he wasn't what Weiss wanted. Neptune was. If that was so, then there wasn't anything he could about it.

He dropped the rose and walked off to be alone. He was gone for some time.

 _RWBY: The Novelization is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Views, opinions, and thoughts are all my own. Rooster Teeth and RWBY are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC._


	17. RWBY: Dance, Dance Infiltration

The night of Beacon's dance finally arrived. The hall was decorated, the DJ was pumping out the jams, and people were making their way in, sometimes in teams, sometimes in couples, and sometimes completely stag. That was the way Ruby went after managing to trip her away across campus in her new high heels. Upon entering, Yang, who was working as the hostess, couldn't stop from exclaiming, "You look beautiful!"

Ruby's legs shook. "Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?"

Yang laughed as Ruby tried to catch her balance.

Ruby wasn't the only one not enjoying the change of wardrobe. As Sun made his way across campus, he kept scratching at his abs, itchy from wearing his shirt closed. He also complained about another wardrobe change. "Stupid, dumb neck trap!" he said, pulling on his tie which had been incorrectly placed around his neck instead of his collar. But someone else had a different opinion.

"I knew you'd look better in a tie."

Sun turned. Standing behind him was Blake in a lavender dress and teal bow. She looked up demurely and Sun felt his heart skip a beat.

Blake walked up to him and grabbed his arm.

"So… does this mean we're going together?"

"Technically. But my first dance is spoken for."

"Huh?"

Sun's question was answered when upon arriving Yang fulfilled her promise and danced with Blake. It was short, but the dance meant a lot to both girls. It marked a new depth and dimension in their friendship. Blake knew that she would be able to trust Yang more deeply, and Yang knew that she could rely more on Blake.

Once finished, Yang graciously surrendered Blake to Sun. She then joined Weiss and Ruby on the sidelines where they could hear Blake laughing and having a good time. "I told you she would come," said Yang.

"Mission accomplished," added Weiss.

Ruby looked at them both. "So, what do we do now?"

"Just have fun!" replied Yang as she and Weiss walked off.

"Does that mean I can change out of these stupid things and into my hood now?" But she received no answer. "Stupid, lady stilts."

"Not enjoying yourself?" asked Ozpin, walking up.

"Uh, no. Everything's fine. I'm just not much of a fancy… pantsy… dancey girl."

"Well, you can't spend your entire life out on the battlefield. Even if you may want to."

Ruby crossed her arms. "Yeah, that lesson's been floating around a lot lately."

"If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked. Although, one wrong move on the ballroom merely leads to a swollen foot."

"Or a twisted ankle."

"It's not every day that friends are able to come together like this. Time has a way of testing our bonds. But it's nights like these that can help keep them stronger than ever. Nights like these are ones we'll never forget."

Just then, Ruby heard the hall doors open and saw Mercury and Emerald saunter in.

"You guys are just in time," said Yang.

Mercury replied, "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

As the evening wore on with more and more students arriving and even most of the professors, Ruby decided to camp somewhere out of the way. It turned out to be a legitimate strategy as it kept her from moving which kept her from tripping over her shoes.

Someone slid up to her. "I see you're hiding out by the punch bowl, too," said Jaune.

"Yep."

"To the socially awkward," toasted Jaune.

Ruby snickered and clinked her glass against Jaune's. "Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss."

"Meh. It's… fine! Neptune's pretty cool. I get why she went with him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, come on, not many people can pull off blue hair."

"No, I mean, Weiss came to the dance alone."

Jaune choked on his punch. "What?!" he sputtered.

"Yeah. She said she had too much to focus on to worry about boys."

Jaune looked around, not believing Ruby. He saw Weiss by herself trying desperately to fix a white rose that would not stand up straight like the others in a vase. It fell over and Weiss tensed.

Both Jaune and Weiss heard laughing. They looked and saw Neptune with Blake and Sun, making them laugh. Jaune looked back at Weiss, the pain and longing plain on her face.

Jaune suddenly became very angry. He didn't know why, but Neptune had turned down a girl that he would've gladly gone to the dance with. What could have possibly been his reason? Jaune didn't know, but he was going to find out. And if necessary, he was going to fix Neptune's wagon.

"Hold my punch," he said to Ruby as he walked off.

Ruby did so. But after seeing Jaune leave, her mind returned to the sweet, hospitable boredom that it had been engrossed with before he showed up. So engrossed was Ruby that she didn't notice when she took a sip from Jaune's glass.

Jaune moved through the thick crowd of students like an assassin. He gently pushed people away and kept his eyes solely on his target, but then a crimson angel crossed his view. It was Pyrrha, and for a second, Jaune couldn't believe what he was feeling. He had never seen Pyrrha look so beautiful before. She was wearing a backless, crimson gown. His heart beat quickly.

Jaune noticed something else: Pyrrha was alone and she looked sad. Her expression clashed with her ravishing appearance, and it didn't seem right to Jaune to see her be so sad as if a fundamental rule of the universe was being broken. Jaune regarded Neptune one more time before deciding to follow Pyrrha up and out onto the balcony. For a second, Jaune thought that maybe she was meeting someone up there, but there was no one around.

"Hey, Pyrrha," he said unsteadily. What was wrong with him? Why was he so nervous?

"Hello, Jaune," said Pyrrha in a tone he didn't recognize.

"You okay?" he asked, crossing to her. "I haven't seen you tonight."

"Arrived late I'm afraid."

"Well… you look really… You look real lovely."

"Thank you," she said with a slight blush.

"Your date isn't going to beat me up for saying that, is he?"

"I think you're safe for tonight."

"So, where is the guy?" said Jaune, trying to sound casual.

Pyrrha paused. "There is no guy."

"Heh—what?"

"Nobody asked me."

"But… you're _Pyrrha Nikos_. How could nobody—"

Pyrrha turned away. "I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise, but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become isolated from the people who put you there in the first place.

"Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm simply on a level that they can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people.

"That's what I like about you, Jaune. When we first met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess what I'm trying to say is… you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me."

Pyrrha gave Jaune one last doleful look before leaving. She had hoped that after hearing Jaune wouldn't be attending the dance with Weiss that he might ask her. But that hadn't happened. She went anyway because she thought she still might be able to have a good time. But so far, seeing Jaune and admitting everything that was bothering her, her night hadn't been very enjoyable at all.

Jaune turned. "Pyrrha! Wait!" But she was gone and instead Neptune was in her place.

"Hey, Jaune, right?"

Jaune sighed. "Yeah."

"This party's pretty lame, huh? I mean, ballroom dancing. Psh! Still, cute girls though, huh?"

Jaune snapped, his former ire rekindled. "Is that _all_ you think about?!"

"Huh?"

"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? Or how they feel about you?"

"Whoa. Where's this coming from?"

"How could you just turn her down like that?!"

"Who?"

"Weiss!"

Neptune scratched the back of his head. "I, uh… it, uh… it just didn't work out. You know?"

"What?! You think you're too cool?! Too many _options_?! Weiss Schnee asked you to the dance; what in the world could possibly keep you from go—"

"I can't dance!" said Neptune, looking away.

Jaune paused, bewildered. "Beg your pardon."

"I can't dance, man!" he wailed.

"But…" This didn't make sense to Jaune. "But, you're _so_ cool."

"Thank you. I try really, really hard."

Jaune paused. The logic of the situation was pretty illogical. "You'd rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance alone than admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?"

"That about sums it up, yeah."

"Well. I certainly feel a lot better about myself."

"Please don't tell anybody. Look, if you want Weiss, she's all yours."

Jaune sighed uncomfortably. He knew what he had to do, and he'd do it for Weiss. But for some reason, it wasn't as difficult as he imagined. "Do you like her?"

"Yeah. I mean, I don't know her too well yet, but she seems pretty cool."

"Then, just go talk to her. No pickup lines, no suave moves; just be yourself. I've heard that's the way to go."

"Yeah, but—"

"Hey! You don't have to look cool all the time. In all honesty, if you could be a little less cool, I'd really appreciate it."

Now, Neptune paused. Jaune was making a lot of sense. And he supposed he could dial his coolness down a little. "Yeah. Okay."

"Go talk to her," said Jaune. "I guarantee it will make her night."

"Thanks. You're a really cool guy, Jaune."

"Alright. Don't lie to my face."

After Neptune left, Jaune sighed again. "Alright. Only one thing left to do."

Inside, Yang was on the second floor of the hall, overlooking the dance as it progressed. She felt very relaxed and content in the moment. She was soon joined by Ruby. "Y'know," Yang began, "I think we really needed this."

Ruby looked down at the dance floor. She saw Nora and Ren dancing, Blake and Sun dancing, and even Penny managed to show up. She was being protected by the two Atlesian guards from the other day, but that didn't prevent her from busting a move solo between them.

"Yeah," said Ruby, at last. "And you did a great job planning it, too."

"Aw! Thanks!" said Yang, crushing Ruby in a one armed hug. "It wasn't all me though. Weiss did a lot, too."

Ruby had forgotten about Weiss. She stopped struggling long enough to look for her. Ruby saw her sitting along the far wall where all the single girls sat, perched on the edges of their seats, desperate for anyone to ask them to dance when suddenly, Neptune approached. He seemed nervous at first, but Weiss offered the seat next to her and he took it.

Yang sighed. "Tomorrow it's back to work."

"Well," said Ruby with a shrug, "I'm sure we can handle whatever gets thrown at us."

Then there was a rising chorus of laughter. It turned into outrageous guffaws shortly after.

Ruby looked down. "Except for that."

Another person who had taken note of the strange change in the dance atmosphere was Pyrrha. For some reason, as the laughter got louder, it got closer to her from behind. She turned and couldn't believe her eyes. "Jaune…?" she said with a slight smile.

Jaune was standing there wearing a prom dress. It didn't flatter him, and what musculature he had clashed with the dress' inherent beauty. It amazed Pyrrha that he had found one that fit him. It was even more amazing that he got it on such short notice. The only thing missing was a good set of heels; Jaune had opted for his regular sneakers instead probably because he couldn't find a set of heels to match his eyes.

Jaune shrugged. "A promise is a promise."

Pyrrha couldn't stop herself. Her lilting laughter joined the chorus. "Jaune! You didn't have to!"

"Hey. An Arc never goes back on his word. Now, do you wanna stand there and laugh at me, or do you wanna dance?" He offered her his hand.

Pyrrha took it. " _I_ would love to dance."

Jaune grabbed Pyrrha and pulled her in. She let out an excited squeal, and when Jaune took the lead and swept her away, Pyrrha felt herself swoon.

Somewhere in the background, Nora said, "Ren! This! Is! Happening!"

"Wait. What is happening?"

Nora didn't explain as she grabbed his hand and led him after Jaune and Pyrrha who had joined the latest dance craze called the Monty. It was a type of line dance composed of sharp kicks, body rolls, and fancy arm flourishes. Everyone in the school was sufficiently impressed with JNPR's skill—it was almost like they had practiced earlier. Eventually, Jaune spun Pyrrha away from the line to dance with her by himself.

"I had no idea you could dance," said Pyrrha. Although she did suspect something when Jaune's footwork improved by leaps and bounds when his cuts hadn't.

"Yeah, well, these things tend to happen when you grow up with seven sisters," he explained before dipping her.

Not too far away enjoying the spectacle that Jaune had made of himself was Weiss and Neptune. They kept one eye on each other and the other on Jaune. They were both too embarrassed to admit that they'd rather watch him dance in his dress than talk. But Weiss had a question burning in her mind. "So, what made you change your mind?"

"Huh?"

"You said you were embarrassed before. What made you come talk to me?"

"You're looking at him," said Neptune as Jaune pranced around Pyrrha. "You've got some good friends looking out for ya."

Weiss had never considered Jaune a friend. Just that one-guy-who-would-not-stop-with-the-advances-all-due-to-a-silly-misunderstanding. But maybe he had her best interests in mind after all. Seeing her happy was more important to him than having her for himself. No. Not only that, Weiss admitted. He was also making Pyrrha happy; happier than she had been in a while. Her crush on Jaune didn't get past Weiss. So perhaps Jaune was looking out for everyone and didn't actually care about the perks of her last name. She may have misjudged him.

On the second floor of the hall also enjoying the show was Emerald and Mercury. Emerald said to the air, "It seems like all the dancers have partners."

"How long do I have?" came Cinder's voice, technologically modified.

"We should probably be home by midnight just to be safe," replied Mercury.

"I'll keep my eye on the clock."

At about the same time, Ruby had decided that it was mission accomplished on all fronts. There was no need for her to be there any longer. She bid the hall a bow and turned to leave, unnoticed by Mercury and Emerald. But as she exited, she saw someone running along the dorm building roofs dressed in all black. That didn't seem right to Ruby as everyone should have been at the dance. Her eyes narrowed and she decided to follow the figure.

Ruby trailed the mysterious stranger all the way to Beacon's CCT. The trail seemed to have gone cold there, but then Ruby noticed the Atlesian guard, knocked unconscious and lying in the bushes.

Ruby knew then that something was definitely wrong. She pulled out her scroll and entered in her locker's code. Within seconds, the locker crashed into the ground near her, revealing her scythe. Ruby grabbed it and proceeded inside. There she found four more Atlesian guards all knocked unconscious and one of them was bleeding.

Ruby looked around the atrium trying to discern where the assailant had gone. Unfortunately, there was no sign of him. The only place he could have gone was up.

Ruby called the elevator down where she found two more guards. One of them was still conscious. "Who did this?!"

"I don't know," the guard groaned. "But she's upstairs. In the Communications room."

Ruby boarded the elevator and prepared herself for battle.

Meanwhile, up in the communications room, Cinder was fast at work at one of the terminals. She inserted her scroll and downloaded the files that had been specially prepared for Beacon's mainframe. Despite the quick and dirty hack, Cinder's infiltration didn't raise any alarms which was fortunate for her as Emerald re-opened communications. "A party guest is leaving."

Cinder sighed. "Which one?"

"Ironwood."

"I guess the general's had enough fun for one night," quipped Mercury. "Should we intercept?"

A queen Chess piece appeared on the monitor in front of Cinder before it spread to all of the others in the room. "No. We're done here." Cinder went to leave when she heard the elevator arrive. She quickly ducked behind the desk.

Ruby stepped out slowly, looking around. "Hello? Is anyone there? Hello?" Suddenly, she stumbled. She looked down at her shoes and cursed them.

A smile spread on Cinder's face. What a coincidence. Cinder very vividly remembered how Ruby and Glynda had deterred Torchwick several months ago and she remembered the fight they put up. But with Ruby alone, and in shoes she obviously had no idea how to move in, this was going to be sweet—a chance to settle the score.

Cinder stepped out from behind the desk.

"Excuse me," said Ruby. "It's not a masquerade party. So why don't you take off the mask?"

Cinder paused for a second. That was the first thing out of Ruby's mouth? No challenge? No how dare you? No mention of all the wounded guards? What a strange girl.

"Well?!" said Ruby.

Cinder grabbed one of the Dust canisters on her and spread the Dust out in front of her. Glass shards formed in mid-air, and Cinder launched them.

Ruby spun her scythe, deflecting them. She then open-fired, but just as Cinder did when they first fought, she blocked each individual shot, her clothes glowing every time she did. Ruby flourished her scythe and leapt at Cinder.

Cinder jumped back, dodging the attack. She summoned two glass swords made from Dust, connected their ends to make a bow, and fired three newly minted Dust arrows.

Ruby jumped back to avoid the explosion and tripped over her heels again. She suddenly had the feeling that she might be in over her head.

Cinder had the same feeling, but found it a pleasure. That was until the elevator dinged again with a new arrival.

Ruby looked back and recognized the grizzled visage of General Ironwood. Ruby smiled, knowing the odds had been tipped in her favor. But when she went to face the mystery attacker, she was gone.

Cinder got down to Beacon's main hall as fast as she could. She was still breathing a little hard as she transformed her spy clothes into a magnificent black dress. She came in through the back entrance and disappeared into the crowd of students just in time as a couple of guards barged in and lost sight of her.

On the dance floor, Mercury and Emerald were managing their way through a waltz. "So, what do you think?" asked Mercury.

"I think Cinder had better hurry. I'm a little worried."

"I meant, what do you think of my dancing?"

"Why would I care about your dancing?"

"C'mon. Don't deny that you're enjoying yourself."

Emerald scowled.

"Whatever. You want me."

Suddenly, Emerald felt a tap on her shoulder. Cinder, as innocent as a virgin, said, "Excuse me. May I cut in?"

"Of course," said Emerald, missing the context.

Cinder gave her a slight critical look, but didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around Mercury.

He smiled; this was truly his lucky night. "And how's your night been?"

"Hmm, a little more… exciting than expected."

"Should we be worried?"

"Hardly," said Cinder with a half laugh. "They'll be scratching their heads long after we finished what we came here for."

"So then, what now?"

"Enjoy the rest of the night. After all, it is a party."

"Yes, ma'am," said Mercury, smiling.

 _RWBY: The Novelization is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Views, opinions, and thoughts are all my own. Rooster Teeth and RWBY are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC._


	18. RWBY: Search and Destroy

When Ruby got back to her dorm from meeting with Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood, her team immediately rushed her. "What happened?!" said Yang.

"Uh, um… well…"

Despite what Ozpin had said about being discreet, Ruby went ahead and told them about how she mentioned the possibility of a base in southeast Vale thanks to what Sun and Blake had discovered at the White Fang meeting.

"That was a risky move," commented Weiss.

"No," said Blake, "I think you handled it well."

"I hope so," said Ruby with a shrug.

"I'm sure everything will be all right, Ruby," added Yang. "Oh! I know what will cheer you up."

"What's that?"

"I don't know. Dad sent it to us," said Yang, placing a medium sized box on the floor. "We can open it together."

Ruby squealed. "Something from home!"

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake looked on eagerly as Yang peeled back the tape on the box and opened its flaps. They looked on in anticipation as a small, rotund, furry item jumped to life. It barked. Ruby and Yang squealed, Weiss recoiled, and Blake jumped onto Ruby's bunk.

"Zwei!" cheered Ruby, scooping up the corgi.

"Your dad sent a dog?!" said Blake.

"In the mail?!" added Weiss.

"Oh, he does stuff like this all the time," explained Yang.

"Your father or your dog?" asked Blake.

Weiss leaned in to get a better look at Zwei as he panted in her face. "Do you mean to tell me that this… mangy… drooling mutt… is going to wiv with us foreva?! Oh, yes, he is. Yes, he is! Oh, isn't he adorable?!" she fawned.

Blake was not amused. "Please keep it away from my belongings."

Suddenly, there was a message on the PA from Glynda. "Would all first-year students please report to the amphitheater."

"Well, we can't just leave him here while we're gone for a week," noted Weiss.

Yang looked deeper into the box. "Oh. There's a letter. 'Dear girls. I've got to leave the island for a few days so I'm sending Zwei to you to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both. Taiyang.'" Yang tipped over the box and a mountain of cans of dog food fell out.

"What is he supposed to do with that?" asked Weiss.

Yang shook the box and a can opener fell out as well. "Welp. That settles it. C'mon, girls. Zwei will be here when we get back."

As Weiss passed Zwei, she continued with the baby talk. "Oh, I'll miss you so much! We're going to be best friends. I can't wait to see you again. You're so cute!"

Blake meanwhile jumped from Ruby's bed to a table and to the door.

Ruby however considered Zwei very intently. She didn't feel right about leaving him behind and surely Yang hadn't considered the mess and mischief he would cause while they were gone. But how could she take him on the mission with her?

Ruby racked her brain until the idea hit her. "That's it!"

As Team RWBY made their way into the amphitheater, Ruby wore a rather large Beacon Academy backpack. As they stood with Team JNPR, nobody seemed to notice that it was breathing.

"Quiet. Quiet, please," said Glynda from the stage. "Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin."

"Today, we stand together, united. Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the world's largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself.

"We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are well aware, that was something that many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it is a trend that has held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity.

"As I have said, today we stand together united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, huntsmen and huntresses will work to uphold it. As first-year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

Ruby turned to her team. "This is perfect! All we have to do is shadow a huntsman working in the southeast."

"Yeah," said Yang. "We'll follow him around by day, and give him the slip at night."

Weiss suggested, "Let's check 'Search and Destroy.'"

The girls went up to one of the many holographic screens around the amphitheater and found a search and destroy mission that required Grimm to be cleaned out in a part of Vale known as quadrant five. "What about this one?" asked Ruby.

"Well, it's in the southeast," said Blake.

"Sounds perfect," added Yang.

Ruby touched the screen and it asked for her to enter their team name. She did so, but a message popped up saying "Mission Unavailable to First-Year Students."

"Wonderful," quipped Weiss. "Never mind the fact that this event is for first-years only."

"Any other ideas?" asked Blake.

"We mail ourselves there," suggested Ruby.

"Well, that's one option," said Ozpin, walking up. "Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students. It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that the four of you will make your way there no matter which job you choose."

Yang, Blake, and Weiss glared at Ruby.

She shrugged. "Whatever makes you say that?"

"I'm still curious as to how you all ended up at the docks last semester. I'm interested to know how you really learned about a 'hideout' in the southeast. And I certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club sometime ago."

Ruby smiled and tried to look as cute as possible—it worked on her father.

"I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers I'm looking for. So, how about this: instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don't we just bend them a little?" Ozpin took out a full sized Scroll, gave it a few taps, and the girls instantly received a mission confirmation on their individual Scrolls.

"We won't let you down," said Ruby. "Thank you, Professor."

"Do not thank me for this. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far, but you must understand that the things awaiting you beyond the protection of the kingdom will not care. Stay close to your huntsman at all times, and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent back to Beacon if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory. Good luck," said Ozpin as he left.

As they made their way to the air docks, Yang said, "That wasn't exactly uplifting."

"But it's the truth," added Blake.

"It's going to be tough," said Ruby. "But I know we can do it. We've never backed down before, and we're not going to start now. Besides, it won't only be us out there. We'll be fighting alongside a genuine huntsman!"

"Yeah!" said Yang.

All their spirits had been lifted, until they made it to the air dock and found Professor Oobleck, looking like he was about to go on safari, waiting for them. "Why, hello, girls! Whose ready to fight for their lives?!"

"Professor Oobleck?" said Weiss incredulously.

"Yes. I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, girls," he said, seeing Ruby's backpack, "as you have opted to shadow a huntsman on what is essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you we will not be establishing a single base of operations, rather we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon.

"I've packed all our essentials myself, plotted the air course, and readied the airship. And!" he said, getting in Weiss' face, "it's _Doctor_ Oobleck. I didn't earn a Ph.D. for fun. Thank you very much."

"Uh…?"

"Come now, children. According to my schedule, we are already three minutes behind… schedule!" Doctor Oobleck then zipped away and aboard the airship.

Ruby tried to seem upbeat. "Well… all right then. Looks like we're going to save the world with Dr. Oobleck." After a pause, she went, "Okay, yeah. When you say it out loud it sounds worse."

"Save the world?!" shrieked someone from behind RWBY. They turned and saw Team JNPR.

"You're going on world saving missions without us?!" said Nora. "I'm hurt! Sad! Maybe a little hungry. That last one's not your fault though… Ren!"

Ren turned away from Nora. So he hadn't made pancakes that day. Big deal.

"Sounds exciting," said Jaune. "Where you going?"

"Oh, just outside the kingdom," replied Ruby.

"Hey! So are we," said Nora.

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village," explained Pyrrha.

"We set out tomorrow," added Ren.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" said Neptune, as he and Sun appeared. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner city detective stuff. We get junior badges."

Jaune was struck hard with envy.

"We normally go to the city with you guys," started Sun, "which means stuff's always exploding and junk. So we thought that this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know, normal."

"Well," began Ruby.

"Four minutes, ladies!" shouted Oobleck from the airship.

There was a pregnant, awkward pause. Ruby finally said, "Well, uh, wish us luck." And with that, Team RWBY said goodbye to JNPR and to Neptune and Sun.

Aboard the airship, Yang confessed to Doctor Oobleck, "I guess I never saw you as much of a fighter."

"I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles."

"Like the mushroom?" said Ruby.

"Those are truffles," corrected Blake.

"Like the sprout?"

"Those are brussels," said Yang.

"Besides," continued Oobleck, "given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in archeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw it fit to assign me to this particular… assignment."

"What does history have to do with this?" asked Weiss.

"Why, what a preposterous question, you silly girl. Why, history is the backbone of our very society. And the liver! And the kidneys, too, if I were to wager."

"And that means…?"

"The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves. But! It is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures."

"Mountain Glenn," said Ruby.

"That's right!" said Yang. "It was an expansion of Vale. But in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city."

"Correct!" said Oobleck. "And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder."

"And a likely place for a hideout," concluded Blake.

"Precisely."

The airship circled above the derelict remains of Mountain Glenn and descended into a suitable clearing. Team RWBY dropped from it all ready for action and Doctor Oobleck with his thermos handy. The airship departed.

"Ladies! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your mission as huntresses has begun. From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?"

The girls nodded, but Oobleck noted a discrepancy.

"Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all your bags back at school," he said, seeing the rather large backpack still with her.

Ruby was quick with a counter. "But, you hadn't told us to listen to you, yet. So… I didn't."

"She's not wrong…" Oobleck said to himself. "Very well, Ruby. Leave your bag here. We can pick it up upon our return."

"But, I… uh…"

"Young lady! What in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with y—"

Zwei's head popped out. Ruby's eyes widened as the rest of her team looked at her worriedly.

Ruby turned to Zwei. "Get back in the bag!" she whispered.

"We're here to investigate an abandoned, urban jungle, teeming with death and hostility, and you brought… a dog?"

"I, uh—!"

"Genius!" declared Doctor Oobleck. He scooped Zwei out of the backpack and started carrying him around. "Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for a hunt such as ours!"

Ruby smiled. "I'm a genius."

Weiss and Yang facepalmed.

"So, what are your orders, Doctor?" asked Blake.

"Ah, yes! Straight to the chase. I like it!" Oobleck dropped Zwei. "As you have been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for Grimm activity. Now there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being—Grimm."

The girls leaned in. They didn't understand. "Uh, what?" said Ruby.

"Grimm," repeated Oobleck. "A creature of Grimm. Approximately one-hundred yards from us at this very moment."

"What?!" said Yang.

RWBY turned and saw a lone Beowolf as it wandered into the street and sniffed at the ground. The girls armed their weapons.

"Stop!" ordered Oobleck. "There are a number of reasons why Grimm would congregate in this particular area. The most likely of which would be their attraction to negativity. Sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred. All qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harboring ill intent."

"So… what now?" asked Ruby.

"We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey."

"How long do we wait?" asked Yang.

"It's uncertain. Hours. Days. Weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months—and there's the whole pack," concluded Oobleck as more Beowolves entered the street.

"What?" said Weiss.

"And now they've seen us."

"What?!"

"And now they've seen us!"

"I take it tracking is out of the question," said Ruby.

"An accurate assumption, yes."

"What's the plan, then?" said Yang as the pack charged them.

"Show me what you're capable of," ordered Oobleck.

Yang gladly charged the pack head on, punching several and breaking a few necks. Within a few seconds, she had several Beowolves following her. But some of them became distracted by Blake, who stood still in the middle of the street. They attempted to ambush her, but Blake dodged their attack with one of her shadow clones and proceeded to slice and dice them.

Weiss quickly garnered the attention of several herself, but thanks to her glyphs, she was able to stay a couple of moves ahead of them. She launched straight through the pack and with several fanciful and artistic cuts, they all fell.

Ruby meanwhile was providing support with suppressive fire. Eventually, what was left of the pack turned their attention to her. Ruby flourished her scythe and shot right at them. With a few quick slashes, they all lay dead at her feet. She turned to Doctor Oobleck. "Heh. Piece of cake."

"Do not celebrate yet. For I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?"

Doctor Oobleck led the girls through Mountain Glenn, looking for anything that may give him a clue as to where their query was hidden. While he did that, he relied on the girls to fight off the many Grimm.

After stopping to observe some long dead growth and allow the girls to clear away a few Beowolves, Oobleck said, "Excellent work, girls. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal activity in this sector. Oh well! Moving along."

The girls followed, but Yang had a contention. "Hey, Doc! You know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a pro huntsman in action. Like fighting, or at least, _helping_ us fight."

"Ah, but I am in action: scouring the ruins of this once great city for any signs of irregularity. Not every mission is full of daring and heroism, girls. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination. Remember: this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that."

Yang stammered. "Well, yeah." She looked at the others for support, but didn't find any. "I mean, of course."

"Hmm." Following that exchange, Oobleck started paying more attention to Team RWBY. He noticed several interesting things, but when he examined Yang and compared her to the rest of the team, he noticed that her shot-gauntlets forced her to get quite close to her enemy, much closer than any of the others. He also noticed how Yang was much more aggressive. This piqued his interest, and after another pack of slain Grimm, Oobleck said, "Tell me, Yang: why did you choose this line of work?"

"Huh?" Wasn't that obvious? "Well, to fight monsters and save—"

"No! That is what you do. I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a huntress."

"The honest reason?" Yang sighed. She fidgeted for a second. "I'm a thrill seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, that's even better. It's a win-win, you know?"

Oobleck was quiet for a second. "I see." He then turned to Weiss. "And you, Miss Schnee. A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So, why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?"

"It's exactly as you said," said Weiss. "I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty."

"Interesting. And what about you, Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose."

"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality. Corruption. Someone has to stop it."

"Very well," said Oobleck. "How?"

"I… uh…" Blake suddenly looked very disappointed with herself.

Oobleck turned to Ruby who had started to play with Zwei. When she noticed, she quickly stopped. "Sorry! Uh, are we ready to keep going?"

Oobleck looked around. "No, I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon." He suddenly tossed their camping equipment at Yang. "You three, set up camp in that building. And please make sure that there are no more of those… creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby," said Oobleck as he walked away.

Ruby ran after Doctor Oobleck. As they were securing the perimeter, they rounded a corner at the end of a street, and Ruby saw something unlike anything she had before. Several black and white creatures looking like elephants were several hundred yards outside of the city limits. But they were large. They dwarfed the trees around them.

"What is that?" said Ruby awed. "It looks awesome."

"That, my dear girl, is a Grimm."

Ruby was shocked. The only Grimm she had ever seen that big was a Nevermore. But they were the exception weren't they? To see so many large Grimm in one location was truly stunning. And Ruby loved the idea of the challenge they posed. "Let's kill it," she said, pulling out Crescent Rose.

Oobleck almost laughed. "I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size."

"But! What if they attack us?"

"Fret not, Ruby. Those Goliaths are not concerned with us. Ruby, not every Grimm is mindless, or rather, not every Grimm is still mindless. You see, the Grimm you see before you are so powerful, so superior to the Grimm you fought, that they have undoubtedly lived hundreds of years. And in that time, between killing humans and attacking our borders, they've done one important thing: they've learned—they've learned that when they attack our borders, they are likely to die. And what we lack in strength, we make up for in will. And that killing one human will only bring more."

"Then… why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?"

"Waiting."

Oobleck waited for the herd of Goliaths to proceed by before turning his back on them and walking back to camp.

Ruby trotted after him. "Doctor Oobleck? I was wondering…"

"Wondering why I interrogated your teammates?"

"Actually, I was wondering, why did you want to become a huntsman?"

"Look around and tell me what you see."

"Lots of old buildings… uh, empty streets…"

"I see lives that could've been saved. As a huntsman, it's my job to protect the people, and although I'm capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I am able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it into the hands of every student who passes through my classroom.

"I look at this wasteland and I see lives that could've been saved. But I also see an opportunity—an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy. And therefore become stronger.

"I am a huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be."

Ruby recoiled slightly. To hear Doctor Oobleck speak so eloquently about his calling to be a huntsman was inspiring and humbling. Doctor Oobleck wasn't a huntsman for the fame or glory, and he didn't become a professor because he wanted to escape the dangers of the field—he had a genuine concern for the world. But to be more effective than just slaughtering a few Grimm, by teaching others, he could effectively slaughter Grimm by the hundreds via proxy. How many Grimm had he taken down total with assists alone? The numbers must have been staggering.

Back at the campsite, Yang, Blake, and Weiss had gotten a fire going. It was crackling nicely when Yang said, "I can't believe we didn't find anything."

Blake replied, "We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side."

"That's not what I meant," said Weiss suddenly. She had been quiet for a while seemingly lost in reverie. Her sudden outburst surprised the other two. "Earlier. About 'upholding the legacy.' There's more to it than that."

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "No, me too. I mean… I don't know."

"I don't know, either," said Blake. "I know what I want to do, but I figured I would always take things one step at a time."

"Well, it doesn't matter. We know why we're here. Right?"

Neither Blake nor Weiss answered.

Their silence was eventually broken by Doctor Oobleck. "Ah, wonderful! A textbook campfire."

Ruby gasped. "Fire!" She knelt next to it. "So warm…"

"Very good. Eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns watching over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for first watch?"

"Yo," said Ruby.

That was good enough for Doctor Oobleck and he zipped away to find a place for himself to sleep. Ruby meanwhile looked for a place where she could post up for a few hours with Crescent Rose and Zwei.

"Hey," said Yang as she passed. "Did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a huntress? I mean, what did you tell him?"

"No, he didn't. Weird. Oh well. Good night, guys."

Yang was disappointed. She couldn't see what Oobleck's angle was. Neither could Weiss and Blake. It couldn't have been as simple as he was just curious. Was he trying to teach them something? Did he think that they had chosen the wrong career? A bit late for that advice. But if not, what was he after?

They were all uncomfortably silent as they rolled out their bedrolls and settled in for the night.

 _RWBY: The Novelization is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Views, opinions, and thoughts are all my own. Rooster Teeth and RWBY are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC._


	19. RWBY: No Brakes

Zwei stirred and looked around, waking Ruby.

"Zwei, it's late. Go back to bed," she said with a yawn.

Zwei apparently hadn't heard her as he rushed off.

Ruby got up reluctantly, unnoticed by anyone else, grabbed Crescent Rose and went after him. She found him just outside, urinating in some of the ruins.

"Zwei," she chided. "This is a wasteland. You literally could have done that anywhere."

Zwei barked at her when he was finished, when suddenly, Ruby heard someone say, "What was that?"

She grabbed Zwei and snuck around a corner of an old ruined building where she saw two members of the White Fang armed with guns.

"What was what?" said the second.

"I thought I heard a Beowolf or something."

The other growled. "Let's just finish our patrol and get back to base. This place gives me the creeps."

Ruby couldn't believe her eyes. The Fang _had_ posted up in Mountain Glenn. But then, why hadn't they seen any signs of them during the day?

Ruby followed them around through the city as stealthily as she could. It was her hope that they would lead her to the entrance to their base. As they rounded a corner, Ruby halted when she saw that there was nothing in the next clearing to hide behind, so she stuck Zwei out like a doggy periscope.

When she heard a heavy metal door creak, she said to Zwei, "Did they go in, yet? One bark means yes."

Zwei barked.

Ruby dropped him. "This is it! This is it!" She pulled out her Scroll to dial her team, but Mountain Glenn had no reception. "Oh, man. Going to have to do this old-fashioned way."

She turned and headed back to camp with Zwei when suddenly the pavement beneath her feet sunk in. Several pieces of it broke and fell into a pit. Ruby was nearly swallowed up herself but she managed to grab onto one of the still attached pieces of concrete. Zwei nearly followed her, but she managed to catch him by the collar. Ruby threw him unceremoniously back up onto the street safely, but as she pulled herself up, the concrete slabs gave way and she fell into the abyss.

Ruby thought for certain that that would be the end of her, but almost immediately, she hit something hard and flat. She strained to get up from the mild impact she had sustained. But when she did, she noticed that she was actually standing on top of a ruined building that overlooked an immense underground city. What was this place?

Ruby wasn't able to wonder for long as two White Fang investigated the disturbance and ran out a door leading to the roof right behind her. "Freeze!"

"Where did she come from?" the other asked.

Ruby backed away to the edge of the groundscaper.

"You're a long way from home, little girl," said one of the Fang as they advanced on her.

Ruby went to grab Crescent Rose, but it wasn't there. She lost it when she fell down the sinkhole. Suddenly, one of the Fang grabbed her by the arm. "Hey! Hands off!" She ripped her arm from his grip, and then planted a punch in his chest.

The Fang barely reacted, caught her next punch, and then landed a right hook across her temple, knocking her unconscious.

Ruby regained consciousness shortly after. She was being dragged by the arms by two Fang through an encampment of sorts. All around her, she saw White Fang performing odd tasks. Some were directing others as they used Atlesian paladins to lift and load loading containers onto flat train cars. Some were loading complex devices with wires of all sorts into boxcars. One Fang scorned his underling. "Hey! Be careful! Are you trying to blow us to the moon?"

"Sorry, sir."

The two Fang dragging Ruby stopped somewhere along an immense freight train. One with a pair of glasses over his mask shouted, "Hey, boss! Found something you might want to see."

"It is good or bad, Perry? Because let me tell you, I have had a day."

Ruby recognized that voice.

"Uh…" stalled Perry, "it's a little girl."

Roman Torchwick stuck his head out of a boxcar. "That would be bad," he said, throwing his cigar down.

Back on the surface at camp, Yang stretched. She was ready to go back to bed. "Hey, Weiss. It's your wa—Ruby? Hey! Where's Ruby?"

"What?" said Blake, stirring.

"Ruby's missing!"

"She's missing?!"

This woke up Weiss and Professor Oobleck. "What happened?" he asked.

Suddenly Zwei ran in straight to Yang, panting heavily. He whined at her.

"What's going on?" asked Weiss.

"Grab your weapons," advised Oobleck. "Your leader may be in trouble."

They did so and followed Zwei back to the sinkhole Ruby had fallen down. They found her scythe lying in the street.

"Do you think she fell?" asked Weiss.

"Fell?!" said Professor Oobleck.

"Down there."

Oobleck looked down. "Oh, my." He then seemed to have a revelation. "Yes… Of course, of course, of course!"

"What is it?!" said Blake.

"How could I be so stupid?!"

"Doctor Oobleck?! What's wrong?" asked Yang.

"Mountain Glenn!" he said suddenly. "Yes. An expansion of Vale that was inevitably destroyed by creatures of Grimm. Previously home to thousands of people—working people commuting to the main city developed a subway system to the inner city. Grimm attacks increase! Population in danger, now desperately searching for shelter. The city evacuates into metro tunnels and what do they find?! The southeast quadrant of Vale is known for wild forests and deep caves!"

"Doc! What are you saying?"

"My dear; we're not just searching for an underground crime network, but an _underground_ crime network!"

"They've been working in caves?" concluded Blake.

"No, no. Mountain Glenn was the first serious attempt at expansion. It worked for a short period of time thanks to an impressive perimeter defense and unique transportation. The city developed an elaborate subway system to carry citizens safely from the new territory to the main kingdom. Sadly, without the many natural barriers that Vale had as its borders, Mountain Glenn was doomed from the start.

"As the end drew near, the citizens made one last attempt at survival. They took up shelter _beneath_ the city in massive caves that they had cleared out for the subway, and they cut themselves off from the surface."

"An underground village?!" said Yang incredulously.

"In a matter of speaking, yes. A safe haven. Until… an explosion opened the mouth of another cavern filled with subterranean Grimm. After that, the kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels thereby creating the world's largest tomb.

"If Ruby is down there, then we must find her," said Oobleck. He took out his thermos and a long pole extended from the bottom as a nipple extended upward and a flame ignited at the top.

Ruby was hit hard enough that she slid when she hit the ground. Her face already bore a bruise and her ribs were sore. She looked up at Torchwick as he chuckled.

"Wow. You are much more manageable without that oversized gardening tool of yours."

Ruby got angry. She charged, but Torchwick stepped to the side and tripped her with his cane.

He wiped a tear from his eye. "You know, Perry? I really did need this." Then he knelt down and pushed the end of his cane under Ruby's chin. "But seriously, how'd you find this place, Red?"

Ruby growled. If she couldn't fight Torchwick, she'd have to run. She utilized her Semblance and dashed around him. He was surprised at first, but then he aimed his cane, crook first, at her. It fired forward and snagged Ruby by the shoulder. It reeled her back.

"I see you've got some tricks up your sleeve. Let me make this clear: we're not through here yet."

Suddenly, the whole cavern shook and a cloud of dust was thrown up around one of their entrances.

"Oh! What the—?! Perry, if you and the boys could take care of that… Kind of in the middle of something."

Perry bowed and started in that direction until the cavern shook again.

Torchwick bellowed, "What is going on here?!"

Suddenly there was an explosion from the entrance. White Fang members retreated, screaming and firing into the dust. A big ball of fire knocked the most stubborn ones to the ground as the rest ran away.

Ruby looked on, hoping. Her prayers were answered when Oobleck, the girls, and Zwei rounded the corner. She acted fast, jumping onto Torchwick's shoulders, pulled his hat below his eyes, and rolled off.

"Somebody kill her!" ordered Torchwick as Ruby ran. He raised his cane and his own shots joined the volley of machinegun fire. But Ruby managed to dodge every shot. Torchwick flexed his cane out of anger. He turned to the nearest Fang. "Attach this car and spread the word. We're starting the train."

"But we're not finished."

Torchwick shoved the end of his cane into the Fang's neck. "Do it, or you're finished!"

Ruby was almost to her team when four Fang members leapt out of cover with guns drawn. She skidded to a stop.

"Ready!" said one of them. "Aim! And fi—!"

But a huge ball of flame laid waste to them. Yang held out her arms. "Ruby!"

This was one hug Ruby gladly accepted.

"Are you okay?" asked Weiss.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she said. "But listen, Torchwick's got all sorts of robots and weapons down there."

"What?" said Blake, handing Ruby Crescent Rose.

"They're all loaded up on the train cars."

"Eh, that's ridiculous," said Doctor Oobleck. "These tunnels are sealed. The tracks lead to a dead end."

Suddenly, Torchwick's voice came on over a loud speaker. "Get to your places! We are leaving now!"

Steam shot out of the engine, the driving wheels spun until they gained traction, and the whistle sounded as the train began moving forward.

"Well, it sounds like they're going somewhere!" said Yang.

"We need backup," said Ruby. "Let me call Jaune." But her Scroll couldn't dial out. "I can't get through!"

"So what do we do?" asked Weiss.

"I believe we only have one option," said Oobleck.

Ruby turned as her scythe extended. "We're stopping that train."

Before the train could make any head way out of Mountain Glenn, they managed to land on the caboose. They're noisy arrival alerted the nearest Fang. He lifted his radio. "I think they're on the—ugh!"

But it was too late. The message had gotten out and was being passed up the cars. A White Fang member made it to the engine room. "Boss! They made it on the train!"

Torchwick growled. "Then grab some cargo and get them off the train! Man, friggin' animals. Every one of them."

The Fang driver looked at Torchwick.

"Uh… but not you, though. You're great."

Back at the caboose, Oobleck said, "Hurry, children. We must get to the front and stop this train."

Weiss opened up the top hatch on the boxcar. "Uh, Professor?"

" _Doctor_."

She pointed at a strange device with a lot of wires and what looked like a timer on its front. "What's that?"

"That, my dear, appears to be a bomb."

All of RWBY recoiled.

Suddenly, Ruby looked up. "We've got baddies!"

White Fang by the dozens crept up to the top of the train and started advancing.

"Well," began Oobleck, "I didn't expect them to—" The bomb came alive. "Go easy on us. Time to go! Blake! Detach the caboose. It will kill us all."

"On it." As her team jumped to the next car, Blake dropped down to the couplers. As she drew her sword back, the caboose came uncoupled. "Huh? It decoupled itself!" she yelled up to Oobleck.

"What?"

"I guess he really doesn't want us on this train," said Yang.

The caboose slowed and trailed behind. Finally, it exploded.

"That's not good," said Oobleck.

"Neither is this!" said Ruby as she and Weiss opened another hatch.

"Another bomb?!" said Blake.

Oobleck looked back to the exploded caboose and ran to the next car. "No, no, no," he told himself. He opened the hatch. "They all have bombs!"

The car that RWBY was on decoupled and the bomb came alive. They barely made it to the next one as the gap widened.

"This doesn't make sense!" said Yang.

But soon, RWBY had another problem. The White Fang had closed the gap considerably and were right on top of them. One, a female with deer antlers, said, "Get the humans!"

Team RWBY took up positions. One Fang challenged Yang, but she kicked his leg back, swept his other out from him, and with a playful wink, blasted him down through a hatch.

Blake was next and she took no issue in beating back what would have been her comrades under a different scenario. Weiss followed her example and dashed down the line of Fang leaving a trail of ice in her wake that froze them in place. Ruby cocked Crescent Rose and shot through next. Her scythe shaved and carved the ice to bits simultaneously carving the White Fang. They landed in a heap.

Oobleck looked back at the last car. It detonated and blew a hole through the top of the tunnel. Down through the hole fell Creepers, Death Stalkers, Beowolves, and a giant King Taijitu. Sensing the hate and fear aboard the train, they followed it, looking for their next meal.

"Oh, dear…" said Oobleck. He turned to RWBY. "He's leading Grimm to the city!"

"What?!" said Weiss.

"It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm."

"That's insane!" said Blake as another car detached.

"We have to hurry!" said Oobleck. "You three! Go below and try to stop those bombs!"

"What about us?" asked Ruby.

"We're going to stop this train!"

"Yeah, I know. I said that earlier."

"Oh. That's right."

Back at the front of the train where the paladins were kept, a couple of Fang jumped into them, hoping to even the odds. One of them charged straight for Oobleck, Ruby, and Zwei with reckless abandon.

"We've got a problem," said Oobleck. He took a swig from his thermos and felt energized, transforming it into his flamethrower mace.

Zwei barked consent and jumped into the air as Oobleck swung. Breaking the limits of his aura and abilities, Ruby watched as Zwei learned a new trick called the Zwei Cannonball. He careened towards the paladin and hit it full force, knocking it from the train. As Zwei watched the paladin fall, a second came up from behind him. But it was then suddenly engulfed in a dozen fireballs. Oobleck leapt at the mech and lashed out with his mace, successfully knocking it off as well.

Weiss, Blake, and Yang dropped down into a cargo hold after successfully defusing the bombs, looking for anymore baddies to deal with. "I guess this is what we train for," quipped Yang.

"Here," said Weiss to Blake. "This should help you."

Blake took a magazine loaded with multiple Dust variants from Weiss and loaded it into her Gambol Shroud.

The girls advanced but then a petite girl with a parasol and ice-cream colored hair dropped before them. She beat her lashes, her eyes changing color and gave them a sassy hip wiggle.

"You two go on ahead," said Yang, her voice oozing contempt. "This one's mine."

Weiss and Blake advanced as the girl prepared for them, but then a shot from Yang forced her to dodge backward which allowed Checkmate to run past.

That was fine. If the busty bimbo wanted to die alone, the girl would oblige. She straightened up as Yang walked right up to her. The girl barely looked over her bust. But she merely blinked, her eyes changing color again.

Yang grimaced before throwing a fierce punch, but a sudden hit to Yang's gut knocked her back. She looked at the girl who had her parasol pointed in her direction. Yang hadn't seen the attack coming, but remembering that the little girl could produce illusions, she wasn't surprised.

Yang charged and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks, all of which the girl dodged. Eventually, she took down her parasol, blocked a couple of Yang's hits before spinning and knocking Yang to the ground with a fluid and steady kick. The girl flipped and tried to land her shin into Yang, but Yang rolled away before leaping at the girl again.

Yang punched, but Neo merely locked her arm and did a side kick which threw Yang backward. The girl flipped to the other side of Yang and started attacking. Yang tried to fight back, punching and shooting as much as she could, but the girl's parasol deflected the Dust and she was able to dodge or block all of Yang's attacks.

Yang got angry and threw a vicious punch. The girl flipped backward and sat down on a crate, opening her parasol, and propping it against her shoulder. She smiled.

Yang walked right up to the girl and went to hit her, but the girl swung her parasol in front of her before performing a series of complicated flips and turns that put Yang back on the defensive. She fired a shot at the girl who blocked it with her parasol, and then they went hit for hit in a vicious exchange. The girl went to kick Yang, but she caught her foot, turned and tried to throw her down the car.

The girl merely flipped and landed on her feet. She charged, grabbed Yang's arm, flipped around it, and in a complicated twisting motion managed to throw Yang into the boxcar's ceiling before she landed on the floor and was knocked out.

The girl simpered as she drew a sword from her parasol. She smiled as she aimed to do Yang in, when suddenly a red flash caught her attention. Something fell from a red portal and swung a giant sword at the girl. She quickly retreated and was shocked by the woman standing before her. She wore a red and black uwagi with a red obi tied around it and a black skirt. She had spiky, long black hair, and carried a revolving sheath full of Dust blades for an odachi. But the most unsettling thing about her was that she wore what looked like a Grimm's skull for a helmet.

The woman looked down at Yang before looking back at the girl. Her sheath rotated and stopped with a snap. The woman drew out a long, red blade that doubled in size once it was clear of the sheath.

Neo had no idea what she was looking at, but she knew she was in over her head. She flourished her parasol and seemingly disappeared in a flash of light.

The woman gave one last look at Yang before slashing at the air. A circular, red portal with a black center opened, and the woman walked toward it.

Yang stirred on the floor and opened her eyes just in time to see the woman sheath her sword and disappear into the portal. "Mom…?" Yang looked around for the girl and noticed she was gone. Yang would've liked to stay longer, but she had a job to do and so trotted off to find her team.

Weiss and Blake continued on as the sound of a chainsaw reached their ears. Blake went to warn Weiss, but Weiss said, "You go on ahead."

Blake exhaled. "Got it."

The Lieutenant advanced with a slow walk and swung his chainsword. Weiss jumped back while Blake deflected the massive weapon. Blake ran on while Weiss kicked the Lieutenant in the face. She landed just in time to parry several wild swings. Weiss delivered an upwards slash that knocked the Lieutenant to the ground.

The Lieutenant stood up slowly, laughing. "Finally, I get to kill a Schnee."

Weiss pointed Myrtenaster at him and rotated her dust cylinders. The Lieutenant charged and swung his chainsword. Weiss swung her sword in a circle and created a shield made from energy Dust that blocked his attack. She pushed forward, breaking the shield and knocking the Lieutenant back. He tried to hit her again, but Weiss parried and then spun and landed a hit on his elbow.

The Lieutenant staggered and Weiss jumped, managing to land another hit on his head. He swung his chainsword viciously, but Weiss backflipped under it and landed three more cuts in quick succession. Despite the Lieutenant's immense size and strength, Weiss was quick and nimble, managing to dodge his attacks and hit him back while he stumbled around. With a savage thrust, she managed to throw the Lieutenant back a ways before casting a time dilation glyph on herself.

Weiss surged forward and summoned a half dozen different glyphs around the Lieutenant. She dashed to one striking the Lieutenant before being launched from the glyph to another and striking him again. With each glyph, she knocked him higher into the air before knocking him back down to the floor. She produced another glyph and propelled herself straight at him narrowly missing a coup-de-grace.

Weiss jumped in the air ready to finish it when the Lieutenant said, "Come here, princess." He grabbed her out of the air and slammed her into the floor, breaking it. It was more than enough to knock Weiss senseless as the Lieutenant then threw her up and brought his chainsword around.

Blake made it to the car right before the engine, and in her way, stood Roman Torchwick. "Hello, kitty cat!" he said, swinging his cane around. "You miss me? You know, we really oughta stop meeting like this. People are going to talk."

Blake finally got what she had wanted since the docks—a chance to settle the score with Roman Torchwick. She was going to make him pay.

Blake charged and just as Torchwick went to swing his cane, she activated her Semblance and pulled the trigger on Gambol Shroud, creating a shadow clone out of pure fire. When the clone dissipated, it exploded and threw Torchwick into the air. Blake jumped after him and landed several vicious blows before knocking him back to the ground. As she landed, she flourished Gambol Shroud and drew the sword from its sheath.

Torchwick quickly stood and fired at her. Blake jumped back as a petrified clone took the hit for her. She ran and jumped at Torchwick. He swung his cane, but she had predicted this and left a clone in her place to take the hit while she grounded herself and attacked from a different angle.

She and Torchwick went hit for hit against each other with neither gaining. Torchwick went to hit her with a savage strike, but she dodged back, leaving behind an ice clone that froze Torchwick's cane in place.

Blake sheathed her sword and with a giant overhead swing, she unleashed an energy wave that destroyed the clone and threw Torchwick into the back of the train car. He flopped onto the ground, losing his cane. As he went to get up, Blake kicked him in the chest and pinned him to the ground. She placed the tip of her sword under his chin.

Torchwick held his arms out, laughing. "Why are we fighting? I saw you at the rally. We're on the same side, and you know it!"

Blake prodded his Adam's apple with her sword.

"Oh, still feisty. So, what are we going to do, now? Do you really think a little bow on top is going to make people forget what you were? What you've done?"

Blake didn't care what people thought about her right now. She had Torchwick at her mercy. All she had to do was plunge the tip of her sword into his throat and he'd be dead.

She tensed up, knowing what she wanted to do, but found herself unable to do it. She didn't care what other people thought, but what about her team? They flashed through her head—what would they think of her if she just killed him here and now? Ruby? Weiss? _Yang_? Would they be disappointed?

Suddenly, the door behind Blake opened and Weiss' body tumbled through it. Following her was the Lieutenant, laughing.

"So, what's it going to be, Blake?" taunted Torchwick.

Blake sheathed her sword and delivered a kick straight to Torchwick's temple, knocking him out and sending his hat flying. She rushed to Weiss' side and found her breathing, but unconscious.

"Blake Belladonna," said the Lieutenant. He laughed. "Come back to rejoin our ranks. He's been missing you. Or have you betrayed us for the Schnee scum?"

The Lieutenant raised his chainsword and brought it down, but Blake grabbed Weiss and dodged to far end of the train car. She laid Weiss down before drawing Gambol Shroud.

"Going to fight me? Hmm?" The Lieutenant laughed. "Now, that would be interesting."

Blake hesitated. She knew what sort of punishment the Lieutenant could take. He was like a tank. He could take all the abuse anyone could throw at him and keep going. That's what made him so dangerous. If only Yang were here—she'd be able to take him on and dish it all back out twice as hard.

The Lieutenant laughed again as he ran at Blake and swung his chainsword. Blake tensed up, ready to parry, when suddenly, there was a battle cry followed by a shot and an explosion. The Lieutenant was launched forward over Blake and Weiss and into the car's wall. He didn't get up. Blake looked. "Yang!"

Yang blinked her eyes, going from red to violet. "That was close."

"How did you do that? You took him out in one hit?"

Yang looked ashamed. "I didn't do very well in my fight against the tri-colored bitch. I still had all the energy left over from that fight. Plus, I just really wanted to hit somebody."

Blake laughed relief.

Suddenly, Weiss moaned. They knelt at her side.

"Weiss!"

"Are you alright?"

She looked at them. "I don't think I'll be sleeping on my back for a while."

The other two giggled. They didn't know what she meant, but it was still funny to hear.

"C'mon," said Yang. "Ruby and Oobleck haven't found a way to stop the train, yet. And there's no one in our way now."

They rushed to the engine room and started looking at the train's controls. "Is this the brake?" asked Weiss, pointing to a lever.

"No," said Blake. "It's this—" But then, she gasped.

"What is it?" asked Yang.

"It's broken! There's no way to stop the train now!"

"What?!"

Atop the train, Oobleck and Ruby were still battling a paladin. Oobleck dodged a savage swing and zoomed up to the top of it. He landed a hit to the cockpit and backflipped off. He and Ruby flourished their weapons and shot at its feet, launching it from the train.

Ruby ran forward while Oobleck ran back. Ruby looked at him confused, until she saw a pair of paladins coming from the rear.

"Ruby! You go on ahead."

"But—!"

"Don't worry, Ruby. It's time I teach them a lesson." Oobleck then ran to meet them.

Ruby turned to head to the engine when a whimpering caught her attention. Zwei looked sad. "Go on," she said with a smile.

Zwei gave her a doggy smile and barked. He ran after Oobleck.

Ruby ran to the front of train in time to see the rest of her team climb on top of it. "What're you guys doing here?"

"There's no way to stop the train!" explained Yang.

"What?!"

"Guys…" warned Blake.

They looked ahead and saw the end of the tunnel as the tracks stopped right before a solid steel wall.

Ruby looked at Weiss who nodded. Weiss spun and stabbed Myrtenaster into the train car, creating a cocoon of ice that totally enveloped the girls. A few seconds later, the train crashed into the steel shutter, burst through it, and the ice cocoon was shattered.

Ruby's head and entire body hurt. She opened her eyes to see a plaza in downtown Vale. People were milling around, shocked at the accident that just occurred. Somewhere, an extremely loud siren was going off.

Then things went from bad to worse as a King Taijitu burst from the wreckage along with several other different kinds of Grimm. The people in the plaza screamed and fled as beowolves, ursae, and creepers chased them down.

Team RWBY still had a job to do.

 _RWBY: The Novelization is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Views, opinions, and thoughts are all my own. Rooster Teeth and RWBY are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC._


	20. RWBY: Breach

At Beacon Academy, Team JNPR was busy preparing for their morning mission by getting a good night's rest.

Jaune turned over in his bed, mumbling, "…Waffles. What? No, Pyrrha, not right now." Suddenly his scroll rang, shattering his rest. "Hello?" But on the other end, there was nothing but static before the call cut out.

Jaune looked at the caller ID. "Ruby?"

In the morning after a filling breakfast of waffles, which Jaune was really excited to see for some reason, he shared his concerns about the situation with his team as they walked to their airship.

"I'm sure they're fine," said Pyrrha.

"You think?"

"Probably a butt dial," said Nora, skipping.

"Team RWBY has always performed exceptionally in the field," noted Ren. "We should be focusing on our own mission."

"We're going to be deputies!"

"I don't know," said Jaune. "I just got this feeling…"

"Jaune…" began Pyrrha.

But then she was interrupted when the emergency warning system went off in Vale. It didn't take long for the alarm to go off at Beacon. Team JNPR looked around surprised while Nora shielded her ears.

Jaune made a split-second decision. "We're changing our mission. Everyone on board." As JNPR boarded the airship, Jaune turned to Ren, "We'll make it out to that village another time."

Ren nodded.

Jaune said to the pilot, "Take us into the city!"

As the airship took off, Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury came out into Beacon's courtyard. "You don't think…?" said Emerald.

"Sure, looks like it," said Mercury.

"But that's still days away."

"So… what do we do?" asked Mercury to Cinder.

In downtown Vale in the central plaza, RWBY found themselves surrounded by Grimm on all sides. The Creepers and Beowolves nudged forward as the Ursae licked their lips, savoring the meal to come. RWBY held their ground and clutched their weapons, waiting for the moment to strike.

Suddenly, the King Taijitu screamed and all the Grimm charged.

Ruby jumped into a pack of Beowolves. She stabbed the ground with her scythe and wall-ran in a circle using the Beowolves as her wall. The triangular point at the end of Crescent Rose did a sufficient job in scratching the muzzles of the Beowolves, but then Ruby used them for her wall-running. She stomped on each one as hard as possible until her momentum finally swung Crescent Rose free and in a great arcing swing, she separated the Beowolves from their legs.

Yang jumped onto the head of a Creeper and used it to jump high into the air. As she flew back, she filled the ground with Dust shots from Ember Celica, blasting Creepers and Beowolves until three Nevermores came at her from behind. They knocked her to the ground. Yang was slow in getting up from her fall, but as an Ursa went to capitalize on her pain, her eyes turned red and she unleashed a fury of punches on the beast.

Blake meanwhile beat back a Beowolf with Gambol Shroud's sheathe before stabbing it through the brain. She transformed her weapon and shot any and all Creepers as they got too close.

Weiss fended off a Beowolf before creating a giant sword out of ice Dust willing it into a pack of Grimm, slicing them apart.

Team RWBY's fight was proceeding well, but the Grimm were many and they kept closing their ranks around the girls. Ruby inched backward while fighting off several Creepers to find herself front and center with the King Taijitu. It screamed at her. Ruby recoiled until she heard an incredibly loud shot above the city. That's when Nora came flying in, riding her hammer right toward the gigantic serpent. She nailed it right in the head before jumping back and joining the rest of her team as they fell from the airship.

"Let's move!" commanded Pyrrha, and they advanced.

Jaune was a little put out, but decided he should get to work. "Okay," he said to himself. "Who's first?!"

A giant Ursa dropped behind him.

Jaune laughed nervously. "Oh, okay. You're first, are you? No, no, that's fine."

Pyrrha was a little ways off down the street. She committed herself with great brutality as she slashed and stabbed at a group of Creepers with her spear. She looked up and saw Jaune backing away from the Ursa.

"Totally fine," said Jaune. "Done this before. Done this before." He exhaled his doubt before inhaling for a mighty battle cry as he unleashed a fierce combination of cuts to the Ursa's chest, neck, head, and body.

Jaune stopped after about twenty hits. He looked up and the beast twitched before it fell to the ground dead.

Pyrrha smiled.

Meanwhile, in a back alley Sun and Neptune were whispering to each other. "Alright, are you ready?" asked Sun.

"Totally," said Neptune.

"Are you sure? We need to look cool. Can you look cool? You're going to look cool, right?"

"Dude…" said Neptune. He stood back and smiled. His teeth twinkled.

"Alright. Let's do this."

Sun and Neptune pushed their shoulders back and chests out as they stepped into the street. "Nobody move!" said Sun. "Junior Detectives!"

"We've got badges so you know it's official!" finished Neptune.

They then bumped fists knowing they had nailed it. Until from above their heads, they saw one of the giant air-dreadnoughts the Atlesian military had brought with them at the beginning of the semester. It was complemented by an entire squadron of the smaller, more personal craft flying around Vale's skyline in trios. The almost unlimited might of the Atlesian air fleet overwhelmed Sun and Neptune so much that they actually dropped their badges.

The smaller Atlas ships flew just above Vale, filling the streets with machinegun fire, clearing out the larger Grimm. As they made their passes, they dropped whole units of Atlesian Knights. They landed in the streets and with their combined firepower, Ursae and Beowolves fell to them en masse.

And suddenly, there came a few new defenders in the way of the stylish and always impressive second-year Team CFVY accompanied by Professor Port. CFVY was comprised of the formidable Yatsuhashi Daichi, his teammate and rabbit Faunus, Velvet Scarlatina, the blind, white eyed Fox Alistair, and the supersonic princess in a million dollar car, CFVY's team leader, Coco Adel.

Yatsuhashi drew the giant sword from his back, and as a group of Beowolves encircled him, he spun and smashed it on the ground, repelling them with immense force. Velvet and Fox meanwhile dealt with a couple of Ursa before an Ursa Major, its back bristling with spines, stepped forward. Fox ran to challenge it. His weapon, gauntlets that extended out from his wrists into curved blades parallel with his forearms, made him exceptionally dangerous as with every punch he could also slice his foes.

He released an unreal multi-hit combo on the Ursa Major. He then landed an uppercut on the beast, throwing it into the air. Fox stepped back and focused his strength into his fists. As the Ursa came back down, Fox punched with both fists into the Ursa's head, and the force from the blow rippled down the beast's body. It was thrown back and exploded, throwing its spines into other nearby Grimm and even back at Team CFVY.

Coco blocked the Ursa's spines with her rectangular, spiked handbag. As she passed by her teammate, she smacked him on the butt. "Nice hustle, Fox. Good job."

Coco then approached an Alpha Beowolf which was easily three times her height. She pulled down her sunglasses, and coolly said, "You just destroyed my favorite clothing store. Prepare to die."

The Beowolf wouldn't stand for Coco's insolence and swung its giant paw at her. Coco merely whacked it away with her handbag before kicking it in the crotch, making it drop. As the alpha whimpered in pain, Coco delivered the coup de grace by smashing its head into the ground with her purse.

More Grimm started to swarm including a few death stalkers. Velvet ran to Coco's side and grabbed the box hooked to her hip.

"Hey!" chided Coco. "C'mon. You used one all semester building that up. Don't waste it here."

Velvet deferred to her leader.

Coco advanced and gave her handbag a shake transforming it into a minigun as big as her. She then sprayed and prayed all over the battlefield, killing Death Stalkers, Beowolves, and even cutting giant Nevermores in half with single rounds.

Back at the breach, a corgi popped out of the wreckage and smacked into a Beowolf. Zwei landed lightly and began looking for other challengers as a wrecked Atlesian Paladin dragged itself out of the wreckage. As Zwei growled and barked at Beowolves, keeping them at bay, Doctor Oobleck managed to pull himself from the paladin armed with his flamethrower mace. At his side appeared Professor Port with his double-bitted, blunderbuss axe.

They nodded at each other and faced a pack of the Grimm. Taking careful aim, they fired several giant fireballs into the pack and set the Grimm ablaze, clearing the way for Glynda to arrive. She threw a couple of Beowolves out of her way with her telekinesis before stepping up to the breached train tunnel. She pointed her riding crop at it and the rubble from the accident replaced itself, resealing the tunnel.

After the last of the Grimm had been dealt with, a few Atlesian Knights fished through the wreckage of the train and pulled out Roman Torchwick along with whatever White Fang they could find.

"Oh, I can't believe you've caught me," feigned Torchwick as he was taken into custody. "You've really shown me the error of my ways." But as a knight placed him in handcuffs and put a hand on his head to lead him into the airship, Torchwick turned bitter. "Hey, hey, hey! Watch the hat!"

With the authorities cleaning up the mess, and after having been formally dismissed by Doctor Oobleck with his congratulations on a job well done, Team RWBY headed back to Beacon.

"Well, we did it," Yang said.

"We did it!" agreed Blake. She felt the most relieved out of them all.

"If we don't get extra credit for that," began Weiss, "I'm going to be seriously disappointed."

"Weiss, a two-headed snake literally crushed a bakery," observed Yang. "I wouldn't count on it."

"Plus, I mean, we didn't solve everything," said Ruby. "A lot of people were hurt, and we still don't know why they even did this or who that mystery girl was."

"Well, not every story has a neat and tidy ending," said Weiss.

"But it should," retorted Blake. "Otherwise, it's just sloppy writing. But, while we may not have all of the answers, we do have a lot of dangerous people behind bars. And I think that's something that we can be proud of."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, getting some of her spirit back. "And if someone tries something like this again, we'll be there to stop them."

Yang then added sarcastically, "Yay. Teamwork. Camaraderie. Good guys. Go team. Alright. Good job. So, what now?"

"I'd suggest training for the tournament," said Weiss. "But I think we have it covered at this point."

"So then…?" said Blake.

"Uh, time for bed?" suggested Ruby.

"Please," said Weiss.

"Absolutely," agreed Blake.

"I'm going to sleep forever," added Yang.

Ozpin sat in his office, nursing his mug and ruminating on the recent events of the morning. Glynda's report had left him uneasy. Suddenly, a three-way call came up on his monitor with Vale's kingdom council and Ironwood.

"Ozpin? Ozpin!"

"Yes, councilman," said Ozpin, swiveling in his chair.

"You've left us with no choice! The Vytal Festival Tournament cannot be broadcast, let alone held, if we are unable to ensure the safety of the citizens. Therefore, we have reached out to the Atlas council and together have decided that the best option is to appoint General Ironwood as head of security for the event."

"Thank you, councilman," said Ironwood. "Our kingdom is happy to lend as many troops as it takes to ensure that this event runs as smoothly and safely as possible."

"And we thank you, General."

"Will that be all?" asked Ozpin with a slight edge in his voice.

"For now," warned the councilman. "But after this event comes to a close, we are going to have a serious discussion regarding your position at Beacon Academy. General Ironwood's reports of these last few weeks have left us somewhat… concerned. I'm sure you understand." The Vale council ended their transmission and left Ozpin with Ironwood.

"This is the right move, Ozpin. I promise I will keep our people safe. You have to trust me," Ironwood said before ending the communication.

While Ozpin did trust Ironwood, he still wasn't at ease with this decision. He had been the headmaster at Beacon Academy for decades and it had always been safe in his hands. But suddenly, things were beginning to unravel. Things that hadn't been seen in quite some time were beginning to resurface. War clouds were brewing on the horizon, and Ozpin hoped that it didn't mean what he thought it did.

On the prison deck of Ironwood's flagship, he lamented his decision to go behind Ozpin's back. But he tried to justify it. "You've brought this on yourself."

Ironwood turned and headed for the cell of his freshly apprehended suspect. Two Atlas soldiers saluted his arrival. "Leave us," commanded Ironwood as the door slid down and revealed the figure of Roman Torchwick, hatless. "I've been informed that so far you refuse to cooperate with the authorities."

"I know this might be hard to believe, General, but, I'm not the biggest fan of local law enforcement."

"How about the world's strongest military power?"

"First impressions… not great."

"I'm going to give you one chance," said Ironwood, straining to keep himself composed. "Who's really behind all of this?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Ironwood leaned it.

"You're looking at him!"

"Very well, then," said Ironwood, turning away.

"What's the matter, General?!" shouted Torchwick. "I thought you wanted to talk."

"Vale's council has given me custody over you for as long as I see fit. So you can make yourself comfortable. I can assure you: we'll have plenty of time to… talk."

"Oh, wonderful," laughed Torchwick.

Back in Vale, overlooking the chaos that had taken place and the clean-up effort required to get things back to normal were Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. "All-in-all," began Cinder, "I would call today a success."

"Those stupid kids really made a mess of things," replied Emerald.

"Yeah," agreed Mercury. "A lot of Faunus didn't make it out of those tunnels. Do you still think the White Fang is going to listen to us?"

"No," said a new arrival. He had red hair, wore a suit, had two small antlers coming from his head, wore an impressive White Fang mask, and carried a katana in his left hand. "But they'll listen to me."

 _RWBY: The Novelization is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Views, opinions, and thoughts are all my own. Rooster Teeth and RWBY are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC._


	21. RWBY: Vol 3 Scenes

Winter VS Qrow

Ruby sighed. "That was so close."

"Looks like the dorks made it to the next round," said Yang.

Blake looked down into the arena where Sun and Neptune were celebrating their victory with horrendous dancing—Neptune even tripped on his own feet. But Sun saw Blake looking at him. He winked and pointed at her.

Blake blushed. "Emphasis on dork."

"That concludes the matches for today," said Oobleck. "Please leave the coliseum in a calm and orderly fashion!"

"C'mon," said Yang. "Let's go congratulate them."

As the girls began to leave, an Atlesian ship with a trail of four white streamers flew just over the coliseum. Weiss saw it and stopped, prompting Ruby to run into the back of her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, seeing Weiss look at the ship.

Weiss gasped and smiled. "She's here!" She broke off into a run toward the docks.

Blake and Yang looked confused while Ruby yelled after her, but Weiss didn't seem to hear her. Ruby chased after her and joined her on an airship that took them to Beacon.

"Weiss! What is the big deal? Who is it? Who is 'she?'"

"Winter…" said Weiss with a smile.

"Winter? Wait, your sister?"

Weiss didn't say anything more. Once the ship landed in Beacon, Weiss broke out into a run for the dock at the edge of the waterfall. Ruby ran after her.

They stopped some distance away from the landing platform where they saw a tall, young woman with white hair tied up into a bun and wearing an Atlesian officer's military uniform and armed with a sabre. She was facing away from them, inspecting her Atlesian knights.

"Winter!" shouted Weiss.

Winter turned, and the girls ran up to her.

"Winter!" Weiss gushed. "I'm so happy to see you! Oh! Your presence honors us," she said with a curtsy.

Winter approached them slowly, looking around. "Beacon. It's been a long time. The air feels… different."

"I mean, it is fall, so it's probably colder," replied Ruby.

Weiss, embarrassed, punched Ruby in the arm; she gasped in pain.

"So," said Weiss to her sister, "what are you doing here?"

"Classified."

"Oh. Right." Weiss was used to that answer. She should have expected it. "Well, how long are you staying?"

"Classified," said Winter, a slight twinge of annoyance in her voice.

"Of course," said Weiss with a nod.

There was a pause.

Ruby felt quite uncomfortable. She prodded the ground with her toe and shrugged. "Well… this is nice. I think…"

Weiss didn't acknowledge her. "You're going to love it here! I know you travel a lot, but so much of Beacon is different from Atlas. Vale, too. The government and school are completely separate! Can you believe it? I—"

"I'm more than familiar with how this kingdom handles its… bureaucracy," said Winter. "That is not why I came."

"Right. I'm sorry," said Weiss with a bow.

"Nor did I come here to watch my own blood fail so miserably in battle. But it appears I have no choice in the matter."

"But… we won."

"Only a novice would refer to that as a victory. I counted at least _three_ strikes missed."

Weiss cringed.

"Leave us," said Winter to the two knights behind her.

They backed away a few feet.

Winter sighed and seemed to take on a much pleasanter tone. "How have you been?"

"Oh. Splendid, thank you for asking. I'm actually in the very top ranking of our sparring class. The rest of my studies are going wonderfully, too. I'm—"

Winter struck Weiss on the top of her head. "Silence, you boob! I don't recall asking about your _ranking_." She turned softer. "I asked how you've _been_. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any hobbies? Are you making new friends?"

Weiss turned helplessly to her left. "Well, there's Ruby."

Ruby snickered. She gingerly rubbed the spot on Weiss' head where Winter had hit her. "Boob," she said fondly.

Weiss cringed in pain and embarrassment.

It was at that moment that everything about Weiss made sense to Ruby. Winter was Weiss' idol. She wanted to be exactly like her sister in every way. The authority, the esteem, the standing. Unfortunately, that also included the condescension. Upon meeting her, Ruby became to Weiss what Weiss was to Winter, but that gave Ruby some hope for the future. Winter seemed to genuinely care about Weiss. Perhaps Weiss treated Ruby like the little sister she never had. While Ruby wasn't thrilled about being someone else's little sister in addition to already being Yang's, it did bewray Weiss' true feelings.

"I see," said Winter. "So, this is the leader you wrote of. How appropriately… underwhelming."

"Uh…" stalled Ruby. "Thank you."

"Greetings, Ruby Rose. I wish to thank you for taking an interest in my sister."

Ruby was caught off guard. "Oh, yes, of course. The honor is in my… court," said Ruby with a curtsy. She lost her balance and almost fell.

Winter's eyes narrowed. She turned her attention back to Weiss. "I have business with the general and your headmaster. But seeing as I'm early, why don't you take me to your quarters?"

"Really?" said Weiss.

"Yes. I wish to inspect them and make sure they are up to my personal standards."

"Of course. Just so you're aware, the bunk beds only look unstable."

Winter blinked. "Bunk… beds…?"

Winter and Weiss headed off for the dorms followed by an escort of four Atlesian knights.

Ruby called after them. "I'll catch up—wait. I mean, I will… reconvene with you both… at a later… juncture!" Ruby fluttered her arms as she walked away. "At a juncture. Yeah."

As Winter and Weiss walked through the crowds of students milling around, they had no idea what was quickly approaching them from behind. It staggered as it walked unsteadily shifting from one side to the next. The students it passed complained about the smell of alcohol reeking off it, but it just kept its eyes on the prize.

It caught up with the back two Atlesian knights and dismantled them in a single second. One of the knights' head rolled forward.

"Hey," slurred a man.

Weiss and Winter turned around.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, _Ice Queen_ ," said the man, dropping the decapitated knight on the ground. He appeared to be in about his forties, possibly older as his hair, which was black and spiky, also had patches of gray. He had a clear five o'clock shadow and red eyes. He wore black slacks with a white and gray long sleeved, button down shirt, and a tattered red cape. Hooked onto his back appeared to be a collapsed sword, and around his neck was a pendant that appeared to be a cross hung at an angle.

The other Atlesian knights raised their rifles and began to approach.

"Halt!" ordered Winter.

"Excuse me," said Weiss annoyed. She walked up to the man. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

The man placed his hand on Weiss' head and shushed her. "Not you," he said, pushing her away. "You! Saw that gaudy ship of yours in town. Guess you're here, too."

"I'm standing right before you," replied Winter.

The man squinted. He smiled. "So it would seem."

"You realize you just destroyed Atlas military property?"

"Oh… Oh, I'm sorry. See, I mistook this for some sort of… sentient garbage."

"I don't have time for your immature games, Qrow!"

"Wait," said Weiss. "You two know each other?"

"Geez. You Atlas specialists think you're so special, don't you?"

"It's in the title."

"Well, you know what you really are? A bunch of sellouts. Just like your boss."

Winter struggled to keep her tone level. "I'm not sure what you _think_ you're implying, but I've heard enough!"

"Oh, I heard, too," said Qrow. "I heard ole Ironwood finally turned his back on Ozpin."

"Ozpin?" said Weiss.

"Weiss, it's time for you to go," said Winter, pushing Weiss away.

"What?"

"Better listen to big sister, Weiss," said Qrow. "She'll protect you, just like Atlas is going to protect all of us, huh?"

"If you won't hold your tongue, then I will gladly remove it for you!" she said, drawing her sabre.

"All right, then," said Qrow. He slicked his bangs out of his eyes. "Come take it."

Winter dashed forward at such incredible speed that the vacuum left in her wake kicked up Weiss' ponytail. She stopped a foot from Qrow and repeatedly thrust at his face, missing each time as Qrow barely shifted his head from one side to the next.

Frustrated, Winter went for a downward hack. Qrow anticipated her move and bowed with a gentleman's flourish causing Winter's sabre to clang loudly against the sword hung on Qrow's back.

Qrow grabbed the sword and pulled a trigger which extended a blade that was at least five feet long and one foot tall. He drew the sword, tossing it in the air casually, caught it, and then waggled it in Winter's face.

Winter took a moment to compose herself, but the moment was promptly cut short when Qrow began hacking and slashing at her. The two huntsmen traded blows back and forth, dashing across the courtyard so fast they appeared to be colored blurs.

Weiss watched on in horror as Ruby approached from behind.

"What's going on?"

"Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister."

"Oh no!" Ruby looked at the fight. "Who would do such a thi—at is my uncle!"

"What!"

"Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!"

"Teach him respect, Winter."

As the fight became rowdier and rowdier, a crowd began to grow. At that time, Mercury passed by and caught a quick glimpse of the action. He chuckled when he saw that an Atlas specialist was getting the business. But then he did a double take. He couldn't believe who it was fighting the specialist. He quickly ran off in the direction of his dorm.

With neither combatant getting the better of the other, Qrow reached up with his sword and brought it crashing down, smashing the cobblestone path. He looked to see where Winter had gone and saw her flying backward through the air, a confident smirk on her face. In the time it took Qrow to wind up for his attack, Winter summoned a glyph beneath her feet and managed to launch away.

Winter landed outside the path next to a lamppost. She staggered on the landing, and had barely a second to spare as Qrow rushed her. Winter jumped into the air behind him as he slashed the lamppost. Qrow allowed his wild swing to carry him around in a circle, and he made two more attempts on Winter's life. Winter managed to dodge the two cuts and jumped halfway up a pillar that made one of the semi-circular colonnades surrounding Beacon's court yard. She impaled her sabre into the pillar and cast a contemptible look at Qrow before running up the column to the top and then running along the colonnade.

Qrow jumped to the center of the courtyard. He pointed his sword at Winter and his blade swung down revealing a large, short barrel. He proceeded to fire several rounds of Dust scattershot at her as he ran along the bottom of the colonnade.

One shot seemed to hit her and she became encased in a mist. In a single bound, Qrow jumped onto the opposing colonnade from where he could launch a better counterstrike, but that proved to be a bit of a problem as he couldn't see what Winter was doing inside the mist.

Suddenly, Winter burst from the mist like a bat out of hell. Qrow smirked and held his sword at the ready in front of him.

Winter pulled a lever on her sabre and a smaller hanger slid out of it and into her left hand. She hit Qrow, but he was able to resist the force of her attack so well that the colonnade beneath his feet gave out before he did.

They shot to the ground and both rebounded expertly. They dashed back and forth several more times, exchanging blows.

Winter got the advantage and knocked Qrow back along the length of the stone path. Qrow impaled his sword into the ground and used it to stop himself from sliding back further.

Winter flourished her sabre with a spin and stabbed it into the ground. A glyph appeared beneath her feet and what looked like dozens and dozens of mini Nevermores materialized, flying around her in a circle. Some of them broke off and flew at Qrow, scratching his face and snatching at his clothes with their talons.

Qrow swung his sword killing a few, but they kept coming, a fact that pleased Winter.

Qrow looked beyond the Nevermores to Winter and released a ferocious blade beam, forcing her to surrender her ground and break the connection with her glyph which dispersed the Nevermores.

Winter had had enough of Qrow's games and decided to get serious. A giant white glyph appeared behind her and started to spin. Winter crouched and prepared herself to be shot at Qrow.

Qrow, recognizing the danger Winter now posed, pulled another trigger on his sword. The cogs and gears in his sword's hilt began to spin causing his sword's blade to separate and bend backward.

But then, Qrow blinked with a slight start. He pulled the first trigger on his sword and it collapsed. He hung it on his back and with one finger, seemed to beckon Winter toward him.

Winter was put off by Qrow's gesture. Why had he done that? What was he trying to tell her? And why had he sheathed his sword? What could make him suddenly change his mind like that? Winter stared at Qrow, and he did it again.

Winter sneered. He wasn't trying to tell her anything. He was just mocking her. Qrow thought she wasn't any sort of real challenge for him and that she should give up. Winter ground her teeth together and decided she'd teach Qrow some respect. He'd learn to appreciate the might of the Atlesian military.

With a mighty growl, Winter shot forward and closed the distance between her and Qrow in an instant. She raised her sabre and prepared for the strike.

"Schnee!"

Winter stopped immediately with the tip of her sabre just an inch short of Qrow's throat. She looked over her shoulder and saw Ironwood with an entourage of Atlesian knights and the girl Penny.

"General Ironwood, sir!" said Winter, stepping to attention.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?"

"He started the altercation, sir."

"That's actually not true," said Qrow with his hands behind his head. "She attacked first."

Ironwood looked at Winter. "Is that right?"

Winter paused. Clouded by her anger and in an attempt to protect her pride, she had spoken before she thought. She looked away.

Ironwood looked at the crowd of wide-eyed and open-mouthed students that had gathered. They looked scared and worried. Some even had their Scrolls out, taking pictures and video. This was certainly a costly blunder.

"And you," said Ironwood.

Qrow jumped.

"What are you doing _here_?"

"I could be asking you the same thing."

"I—"

"Now, now everyone," said a new voice as Ozpin and Glynda arrived. "There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the coliseum that I can assure you has better seats and popcorn," said Ozpin as if there wasn't anything better in the world.

"Break it up, everyone," ordered Glynda. "We will take care of this mess," she said, taking out her riding crop.

Ironwood fixed his tie before turning to Winter. "Let's go."

Winter followed Ironwood and his entourage obediently. Penny was last in the group. She turned around and gave Ruby a cheerful wave as she left.

Ruby returned it, but then she jumped and latched onto Qrow's arm. "Uncle Qrow! Hi. Ah! It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me?!"

Qrow paused. "Nope."

Both he and Ruby smiled, and Qrow ruffled her hair.

"Qrow!" called Ozpin. "A word, please."

Ruby slid off Qrow's arm.

"I think I'm in trouble," said Qrow.

"You did kind of tear up our courtyard," replied Ruby.

"Yeah, I did. Catch you later, kid," he said, bumping her fist before walking away.

"And suddenly, your recklessness makes sense," said Weiss.

"You're just mad because he whooped butt."

"That was a draw at best!"

Qrow Comforts Yang

Yang sat on a bed in her dorm, feeling sorry for herself. She had no idea what happened out there on the battlefield. Everyone had accused her of attacking Mercury. Despite what they said, not even her own team and teammate believed her. Yang knew what she saw, and she knew she wouldn't have lashed out if she hadn't been provoked, so what happened out there?

"Hey, there, Firecracker."

Yang blinked. She didn't know how, and while she was caught off guard, she wasn't entirely surprised her uncle had just materialized in the room.

"Hey, Qrow."

"So, why'd you do it?"

Yang paused. Not even her own family believed her. "You know why."

"All I know is that you attacked a helpless kid."

"He was _not_ helpless," bit Yang.

"What makes you say that? Are you saying if you hadn't thrown your tantrum, he would've beaten you?"

Yang looked back at him, scowling. For a split second, her eyes flashed red.

"He _was_ helpless without the aid of his aura and Semblance. So, either you're lying, or you're crazy."

"I'm not lying."

"Hm. Crazy. Got it." Qrow began to pace the room.

"Who knows. Maybe I am."

"And here I thought your dark-haired friend was the emo one."

"I saw my mom," said Yang suddenly.

Qrow stopped.

"I was in a lot of trouble. Took a pretty hard hit. But when I came to, the person attacking me was gone, and I thought I saw… her. Her sword. Like the one in you and Dad's old picture."

"You're not crazy, Yang," said Qrow. "That was your mom all right. Let me guess: she didn't say a word, did she?"

"How did you know that?"

"I don't see my sister very often, but she does try to keep in touch. Whenever it suits her."

"Wait. You mean, you talk to her? That was real?"

"Yeah. She found me. Had a tip from my most recent assignment, and wanted me to give you a message."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I was trying to wait for the right time, and this sure ain't it. But I guess you deserve to know. She wanted me to tell you she saved you once, but you shouldn't expect that kindness again."

Yang felt her mother's abandonment all over again. She couldn't stop a few tears from coming to her eyes. The more she knew about her mother, the better image she got of her. And better the image, the more Yang didn't like what she saw.

"Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with. And she's dangerous. But you're a tough egg, kiddo. You shouldn't let this tournament thing get you down. You had a slip up; sometimes bad things just happen. I say it's time you move on."

"Move on to what?"

Qrow walked to the opened window and leaned against the sill. "Well, Raven let some info slip before she took off. If you ever want to track her down, I think I might be able to help."

Yang frowned. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know her mother anymore. The pain of it all was just too much.

Qrow turned and began to leave, but he stopped at the door. "Yang, I think you deserve to know why she left."

Jaune Comforts Pyrrha

Pyrrha sat on the ground outside the cafeteria, leaning against the wall. With the decision of becoming a Maiden looming over her and everyone counting on her to win the tournament, for the first time in a while, she felt like she was going to collapse under the pressure.

The wind blew a solitary leaf off a tree and it landed near her feet. Fall had arrived and she was reminded of Amber, the Fall Maiden. To take on her aura would mean taking her soul—stealing it from her. The thought sent a chill down Pyrrha's spine; Amber would likely die from the procedure. And Ozpin, Glynda, General Ironwood, and the stranger Qrow were perfectly willing to go through with it if she said yes.

Pyrrha was no stranger to being alone. She had faced innumerable enemies before, and there was even a time when she hadn't even had any friends. But despite her past battles, despite her friends, now she truly was alone. No one could understand the burden she now faced as Amber's life and the future of Remnant rested in her hands. But, the thought that bothered her most of all was what would happen to her. How would she change? And would that mean giving up all her feelings for Jaune?

Pyrrha was alone.

"Hey," said a familiar voice.

Pyrrha looked up, and for the first time, she wasn't able to give Jaune a smile.

"It's no green goop, but I think it might still do some good," he said, handing her some cotton candy on a spindle.

"Um, right," said Pyrrha, taking it. She appreciated the thought, but knew it wouldn't fix her problems. "Thank you, Jaune."

Jaune was hoping to brighten up her day, but she still looked sad. He looked up and saw Nora and Ren pass by.

Nora read the mood perfectly. "Um, come on, Ren. Let's go back to the fairgrounds. I'll win you another stuffed animal," she said, dragging him away.

Jaune sat next to Pyrrha, and was quiet for a minute. "You were the first person to ever believe in me," he confessed. "Even when I told my parents I was going to Beacon, they told me not to worry if I ended up having to move back home. How depressing is that?"

"I'm sure they didn't mean—" Pyrrha gasped and dropped her cotton candy. She looked down; Jaune's hand was top of hers, his fingers lightly wrapped around her hand.

"I guess I'm just trying to say that you've always been there for me. Even when I didn't deserve it. And I can tell there's something on your mind, so… I don't know. How can I help?"

Pyrrha smiled. "You're already doing it," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

The wind blew again and a second leaf joined the first.

Although this moment was what Pyrrha wanted most in her life, it still didn't bring her much comfort.

"Jaune," she said, taking her head and hand away. "I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you believe in destiny?"

"Um, I don't know. I guess that depends on how you view it."

"When I think of destiny, I don't think of a predetermined fate you can't escape, but rather some sort of final goal. Something you work toward your entire life."

"Okay, yeah. I can see that. Sure."

"Well, what would you do if something came along that you never expected? Something that had the potential to stand between you and your destiny?"

"Like, what?"

"Or, what if you could suddenly fulfill your destiny in an instant but at the cost of who you were?!"

"Pyrrha, you're not making any sense."

Pyrrha stood and wrapped her arms around herself. "None of it makes sense! This isn't how things were supposed to happen!"

"I'm sorry!" said Jaune. "Please. I'm just trying to understand what's wrong."

"I've always felt as if I was destined to become a huntress; to protect the world. And it's become increasingly clear to me that my feelings were right. But, I don't know if I can do it."

"Of course, you can. The Pyrrha Nikos I know would never back down from a challenge. And if you really believe it's your destiny to save the world, you can't let anything stand in your way." Jaune smiled.

Pyrrha turned. Her hands went to her mouth as she began to cry.

"Pyrrha?"

"Stop…"

"Did I say something wrong?"

"Stop!" Pyrrha lashed out with her Semblance and she threw Jaune into the wall, cracking it and pinning him to it. She looked up horrified. "Jaune!"

Jaune fell to the ground.

Tears welled up in Pyrrha's eyes. "I'm… I'm sorry," she said, before running away.

"Pyrrha, wait!" Jaune looked down. "What did I say?"

Velvet and Weiss VS Paladins

Down in Beacon's courtyard, the combined forces of Teams CFVY, SSSN, RWBY, ABRN, FNKI, JNPR, and BRNZ were not doing well against the turncoat forces of the Atlesian military. The knights fell easily enough, but the paladins were in a whole new league of their own. Weiss, who had experience fighting paladins, was shocked most of all by how difficult unmanned mechs could be. Nothing they did seemed to have any effect on the machines.

Two of the paladins stood side-by-side and faced the weary warriors. Neptune fired on it. "Uh, this is bad," he said, seeing how ineffectual his gun was.

Even Coco's minigun couldn't make a dent. She sighed, surrendering. She turned to Velvet. "Well, I guess now's a better time than any."

Velvet's eyes got big. "Really?!" she said with excitement.

"Just make them count."

Velvet nodded and sauntered up to the two big white mechs by herself.

"What're you doing?" demanded Weiss, trying to stand. "She's going to get hurt."

"Just watch."

Velvet held out her arm and from her camera's case, an image developed into a hard light copy of Ruby's Crescent Rose.

The front paladin fired on her, but Velvet leapt into the air, holding Crescent Rose behind her, mimicking Ruby's signature move perfectly. She spun downward and slashed the paladin. The Crescent Rose wire frame disappeared, but a version of Myrtenaster then developed in Velvet's hand.

The paladin struck, but Velvet defended with the Myrtenaster, and followed up with several dainty but precise slashes, beating the paladin back. Velvet then surged forward with a vicious punch wearing hard copies of the Ember Celica. She backed up, cocked them, and got several shots off.

The paladin swung its arm forward and tried to snatch Velvet, but she then developed the Gambol Shroud. She stabbed it into the paladin's hand and with a great push, she swung around the paladin's legs, allowing the spectral ribbon to wrap up its legs. She pulled the ribbon taut, pulling the mech's legs together and managed to topple it.

The second paladin came to its comrade's aid, but Velvet chucked the Gambol Shroud's sheathe at it, managing to pierce the paladin's thick armor and lodge the Gambol Shroud in it. She then fired with Coco's minigun and got off a few hundred rounds before running dry.

The paladin attacked with its arm, but Velvet deflected the attack with Sun's Ruyi and Jingu Bang in their bo form. She ran up the paladin's arm and jumped into the air, creating Nora's hammer. She somersaulted down and smashed the paladin's shoulder off, disarming it.

While still standing on the paladin, hard light copies of Penny's swords sprang from her back. She backflipped off and with two enthusiastic and graceful slashes, she cut off the robot's legs.

Velvet then changed the modes of the swords into guns and began to spin them. A ball of energy began to collect and when Velvet threw her fists forward, a charged particle beam fired, destroying the paladin.

With one paladin down, Velvet turned to face the other, but she was too late as it smashed its fist into her face and launched her across the courtyard.

"Velvet!" called Coco. She lifted her gun and fired. She was joined by Neptune, Reese Chloris, and Nadir Shiko. They let go a barrage of Dust rounds, but the paladin kept approaching.

Weiss stared at the fight before her. She had completely underestimated Velvet and her abilities. By herself, Velvet had almost managed to turn the tide of the fight. Why couldn't she do that? She knew she had the power. And if there was anyone who could take down Atlesian technology, it would be her. So, why couldn't she do it?

Weiss could do it. She had more than enough power. She could do something that no one else could.

Weiss growled. She hated her weaknesses, but most of all, she hated doubting herself. She made a decision to face her worst demons and with her courage found, she charged forward.

The paladin approached Velvet ready to finish her off. The others couldn't do anything to stop it.

A series of white glyphs appeared on the ground. Weiss dashed past and aimed to stop in front of Velvet. But as she approached, a new feeling came to her. Not one of anger, but revelation. She had been holding herself back. She had been her biggest obstacle in her life. Not her father, not the world, not even her sister's expectations. It was all on her—her failure—but also her success.

Weiss approached Velvet and a giant white glyph with four swords pointing in the cardinal directions formed behind her. She stopped in front of Velvet and saw the paladin swing. She held up her rapier to block but also called upon the Aegis. As the paladin swung, Weiss cringed and ducked, but instead of being hit, there was a metallic thud.

Weiss opened her eyes and looked up. Above her was a gigantic sword held by a solitary arm attached to the glyph. She watched as it deflected the paladin's arm downward, swung up, and sliced the paladin in half.

Weiss looked up at her summon. It was only an arm, but it had made a real difference in the battle. Weiss was amazed by her own ability, but also elated she had pulled it off. She had stood with friends and wouldn't retreat, she stared down death and the taste was sweet. Suddenly, there was a flash.

Weiss looked up and saw Velvet smiling at her, holding her camera up.

"I want to do that."

Weiss gave a half smile.

But then, the ground rumbled. They all turned toward the end of the courtyard where another paladin ran down the path and slid to a stop fifty yards from them.

Sun sighed. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Pyrrha VS Cinder

The elevator doors opened, and out dashed Ozpin followed by Pyrrha and Jaune.

As they ran down the hall, Jaune looked around. "What is this place?"

"It's a type of vault," said Pyrrha.

"You've been here before?" said Jaune surprised. "What would this school need to hide?"

Jaune got his answer as they reached the end of the hall and he saw Amber in the pod. "What? Who?"

"Jaune, I—"

"Pyrrha!" said Ozpin. "Get in the pod. Mr. Arc, if you would like to help, you can stand guard here."

Jaune looked at Pyrrha. She didn't offer an explanation. Left with little choice, Jaune turned around and lifted his shield. He didn't know what he could guard the machine from, but with the chaos outside, anything was possible.

"What do you we do now?" asked Pyrrha.

Ozpin went to the main controls and keyed in several instructions to get the aura transference program running. " _We_ do nothing," he said, as the other pod opened. " _You_ Miss Nikos have a choice to make."

Pyrrha looked from the pod to Jaune. She didn't know what would happen to her, but she knew it would change her and her feelings for Jaune. Even if it didn't, after possessing the powers of the Maiden, she'd no longer be allowed to love him. She wiped away a tear and pushed her dreams out of her mind as she stepped into the pod.

"Are you ready?" asked Ozpin.

Pyrrha gave a small nod.

"I… I need to hear you say it."

"Yes."

"Thank you, Miss Nikos," said Ozpin as he pushed one last key.

Amber's pod rose, and much to Ozpin's dismay, she blinked awake as her orange aura was sucked from her body, led up a series of pipes, and then back down to Pyrrha's pod.

Pyrrha screamed as she felt the Maiden's soul enter her body. It didn't want to go into her body; it fought against her. Pyrrha felt an intense burning all over her body accompanied by a psyche that invaded her mind with unfamiliar thoughts.

Hearing Pyrrha scream, Jaune turned and ran up to the pod. "Pyrrha!" His hand went up to the window and he clawed at it, helpless to ease Pyrrha's pain.

Ozpin looked away. "I'm… so sorry."

Suddenly, there was a light whistle on the air followed by the sound of breaking glass and a squelching noise. Amber gasped.

Ozpin and Jaune turned to Amber to see a glass arrow embedded in her chest. They turned around and there stood Cinder, holding up her glass bow.

The orange aura receded from Pyrrha and down the pipes back to Amber's pod. It burst out of her chest, through the window, and hit Cinder. She was enveloped in it and lifted into the air. Her eyes burned with an orange outline and flames danced around her.

Jaune shouted at the top of his lungs and charged. He lifted his sword, but Cinder repelled him with a limp wristed blast.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted from inside the pod. She ripped it open with her Semblance and shot the cover at Cinder who deflected it. Pyrrha drew her weapons to her hands and began to charge, but Ozpin raised his arm, stopping her.

"Take Jaune and get out of here! Find Glynda! Ironwood! Qrow! Bring them here right away! The tower cannot fall."

"But I can help."

"You'd only get in the way."

Pyrrha looked at Cinder as she smirked and lowered herself back to the ground. Pyrrha wanted to fight, but she had experienced firsthand the power of the Maiden. It was unlike anything she had felt before. What sort of monster was this girl if she could withstand it?

"Go!" urged Ozpin.

Pyrrha nodded. She helped Jaune up, and together they ran off for the elevator.

Cinder watched them go with mild amusement, before turning back to Ozpin where her smile vanished for a scowl. "This whole time. Right beneath our feet. She was right about you. Such arrogance."

Ozpin flourished his cane and took a step forward.

The stragglers that had stayed behind to fight the Grimm and haywire Atlesian tech had gathered at the Beacon docks where Atlas ships waited for people to board. Professors Port and Oobleck were overseeing the evacuation.

"That's it!" said Port. "Everybody on board! This is a mandatory evacuation."

"A safe zone has been established in Vale," added Oobleck. "Please remain calm and listen to Atlas personnel."

Weiss was at the docks with Sun, watching over Ren and Nora as they sat on the ground, resting from their injuries.

Weiss heard footsteps. She turned and saw Blake come running up, carrying an unconscious Yang. Sun ran to help to her as she collapsed on the dock. Sun laid Yang on the ground.

"Blake. What happened?" asked Weiss.

Tears streamed down Blake's face. "I'm so… sorry."

"What do you—?" Weiss looked at Yang. Her hand went to her mouth in horror. She looked at Blake, but she just kept crying.

Weiss heard more footsteps and just past Blake, she saw Ruby running up from behind. Weiss ran to meet her. "Ruby!" she said, clasping Ruby's hands.

"Thank god, I found you!" replied Ruby.

"Ruby, where were—?"

"Don't worry. I'm fine. What's going on?"

Weiss didn't respond.

"Weiss? What is it?"

Weiss stepped out of the way and Ruby was horrified to see Yang unconscious with her arm cut off and Blake nursing her side, lying next to Yang, clutching her hand.

"I'm sorry," wailed Blake. "I'm so sorry."

Ruby took a step forward. "Yang…"

"She's going to be okay," said Sun. "The soldiers have a ship ready to take you guys to Vale."

"But Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing," said Nora.

"What?!" replied Ruby.

"Look, guys!" said Sun sternly. "That giant Grimm keeps circling the school. Even the White Fang are pulling out. We all have to go. Now!"

"We're not… leaving," said Ren, trying to stand but failing.

Ruby looked at her team. It seemed to be in shambles, but they were all alive and together; Ruby was so relieved. But when she looked at Ren and Nora missing Jaune and Pyrrha, she felt their pain and anxiety. Ruby had felt the same fear just minutes ago. She knew Ren and Nora wouldn't leave without Jaune and Pyrrha.

"I'll find them," said Ruby. "I'll find them, and I'll bring them back."

"No!" said Weiss. " _We_ will find them. Watch after Blake and Yang. We'll be back."

Ruby and Weiss ran off back toward Beacon.

"You better!" called out Sun. "Man, idiots…"

Pyrrha and Jaune made it out of the tower and into the desolate courtyard.

"Okay," said Jaune. "I think I have Glynda's number," he said, whipping out his Scroll. "Where is it? Where is it?"

Pyrrha looked back up at the tower, wondering if she should have stayed. Even if she couldn't have matched Ozpin and Cinder's level of combat, two against one would've tilted the odds in their favor. Should she go back and help anyway?

"Pyrrha… what was all of that?"

"I—"

The ground shook, and from outside the CCT, Pyrrha and Jaune saw a burning light ascend the tower. A chill went down Pyrrha's spine.

"But… Ozpin."

"There's no time," said Pyrrha. She turned to Jaune. "Go! Get to Vale and call for help!"

"What? What're you going to do?"

Pyrrha looked at the tower.

"No. No, Pyrrha, you can't. You saw how powerful she is."

Pyrrha looked down ashamed. "I can't just stand by and do nothing. I'm at fault for this."

"What? No. No, you're not."

"Yes, I am. We led her down there. If I had thought I could fight without the Maiden's power, she wouldn't have died and Ozpin would still be..."

"Maiden's power? What're you talking about, Pyrrha?"

"Jaune… Just do as I say and get to Vale."

"No, Pyrrha! I won't let you go!" He grabbed her wrist. "We need you."

"It's because of everyone that _I_ need to do this. The tower must not fall."

"Pyrrha! She'll kill you! I won't let you do—"

Pyrrha seized Jaune's face and planted her lips on his.

Jaune was shocked. He couldn't believe what was happening, but ever since the dance, he had started to suspect Pyrrha's feelings. Even he thought he began to feel something for her.

He put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer. Pyrrha pulled her head back, only to kiss him again. But then, tears began running down her cheeks.

She pulled away again. "I'm… so sorry, Jaune."

"Pyrrha…?"

"It's not fair. Goodbye."

Jaune felt himself pulled backward into a rocket locker that had crashed into the ground. The door slammed in his face, and Pyrrha approached, tears still running down her face as she entered coordinates into the locker.

"Wait!" shouted Jaune. "Stop! Stop! Pyrrha, please don't do this! There's got to be another way!"

"I'm sorry…"

Pyrrha stepped back as the locker shot off. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked back at the tower. Her face turned hard and she ran inside. She pried open the elevator with her Semblance and stepped into the car. She reached out with her Semblance and seized the entire car with her polarity. She then directed it toward the top of the tower, and under a great strain, the elevator shot to the top of the tower.

In another area of Beacon's courtyard, Ruby and Weiss ran through, looking for Jaune and Pyrrha, and dodging any Grimm they saw. Suddenly, Weiss' Scroll rang.

"It's Jaune! Where are you?" she said, answering.

"Weiss! Please, you have to stop her!"

"What?"

"Pyrrha! She's going after that woman at the top of the tower. She doesn't stand a chance!"

Ruby and Weiss looked at the CCT.

"Jaune, what are you talking about? Where are you?"

"Don't worry about me! Please… you have to save Pyrrha."

"We will. Are you okay?"

But Weiss didn't get an answer as she heard Jaune scream in frustration. There was a whooshing sound followed by a breaking sound and the audio quality became muffled. But, Weiss thought she could still hear Jaune on the other end in the distance, sobbing.

"Jaune? Jaune?!"

Suddenly, the ground rumbled as the Grimm dragon flew overhead and landed on the tower with a screech.

Ruby and Weiss looked at the Grimm surrounding the tower.

"Fighting them all will take too long!" said Ruby. "We've gotta hurry."

Weiss looked at the tower and summoned a line of her glyphs, leading up to the top. "You can do this."

Ruby nodded. She jumped onto the tower with a boost from her speed and landed on the first glyph before proceeding to run up the tower.

Cinder arrived at the top of the elevator, walking out of a cloud of billowing smoke. She walked over to the window overlooking Mountain Glenn, and smiled. Light impacts and the sound of crushing stone announced the arrival of the Grimm dragon as its head, bigger than the whole office, slid into view. It screeched.

Cinder hushed it like a mother hushing her child. "This is your home now."

The dragon screeched again, but much more quietly. Its many eyes looked into the office and swiveled slowly.

Cinder stepped back and summoned a fireball into her hand. She raised her hand, but a rumbling through the tower and the sound of steel grating against steel stopped her. She looked back at the elevator as it pinged.

The doors were thrown open and Pyrrha's sword came spinning out, aimed at Cinder. She casually side stepped it as Pyrrha leapt at Cinder with her shield below her feet. Cinder shielded herself with her arms and took the full brunt of the attack, and she pushed Pyrrha away. Pyrrha landed on her feet, summoning her shield and sword to her hands.

Cinder summoned her fire and threw a few streaks, but Pyrrha danced around them. Cinder shot a fire pillar at Pyrrha, but she blocked it with her shield and leapt through it at Cinder. Pyrrha twisted in the air and tried to stab Cinder, but she grabbed Pyrrha's bare blade with her bare hand—Pyrrha was shocked.

Cinder countered with a hit to Pyrrha's torso and sent her flying back. Pyrrha hit the wall, knocking the air out of her. She gasped for breath, and did her best to stay standing. Cinder flew at her, shooting flames from the palms of her hands. She attempted to tackle Pyrrha, but thinking quickly, Pyrrha jumped onto the wall, legs bracing against Cinder's force, before locking her arm around Cinder's, jumping, and throwing Cinder to the floor.

Cinder stood with flames in either hand, but Pyrrha dissipated them, throwing her sword and shield at her hands. As Cinder shook the sting from her hands, Pyrrha tackled her with all her might. They flew across the room and crashed into Ozpin's desk.

The two combatants rose with Pyrrha holding Cinder in a choke hold, trying to lift her sword to Cinder's throat. Cinder did her best to hold the sword back, but Pyrrha was stronger. Instead, she heated her hands and began to melt it.

The dragon screeched, distracting Pyrrha long enough for Cinder to succeed in breaking her sword and elbowing her in the gut with such force, the entire tower was ruined, causing gears to fall, and Pyrrha was shot back into one of the remaining walls.

Pyrrha ricocheted off the wall and hit the floor. She saw her shield just a few feet in front of her, but as she crawled to it, Cinder hovered just overhead, daring her to grab it.

Pyrrha remembered her old combat training and looked at her environment to see if there was anything she could use. She saw the wreckage of the gears, and tested them briefly with her Semblance. They reacted, proving to be metal.

Pyrrha threw a metal piece at Cinder, grabbed her shield, and managed to dodge and block a few of Cinder's fireballs. Pyrrha spun and with great force threw her shield straight through Cinder's fire. She knocked the shield away, but was distracted long enough for Pyrrha to lift all the cogs and gears into the air, surrounding Cinder.

Pyrrha motioned for her shield to hit Cinder from behind, knocking her off kilter, and then crushed her beneath all the gears.

Pyrrha thought she had done it, but a burning red light began to grow brighter. There was an explosion, and the gears were thrown off. One hit Pyrrha, knocking her into the only wall still standing. Pyrrha's aura was completely depleted.

Cinder summoned her bow from shards of glass and drew back an arrow, aimed at Pyrrha. Pyrrha made one last attempt on Cinder and threw her shield at her. Cinder released her bow, and despite the shield hitting Cinder's arrow, the arrow shattered and reconstituted on the other side of it, hitting Pyrrha in the ankle, piercing through her boot. Pyrrha let out a wail, and fell to a knee. She grimaced and tried to stand, but couldn't, falling to the ground and breaking the arrow's front and end off, leaving its shaft in her ankle.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours," cooed Cinder, walking up to Pyrrha. "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined."

Pyrrha looked up into Cinder's eyes. "Do you believe in destiny?"

Cinder lost her smile. "Yes." She lifted her bow and summoned another glass arrow. As she drew it back, Ruby made it to the top of the tower and landed on the far side.

Ruby looked up and saw Cinder release the arrow. It penetrated through Pyrrha's chest, sticking out her back.

Pyrrha gasped. The arrow's head had ripped her chest apart and now, she could feel a burning sensation searing away at her throughout her entire body. She tried to breathe, but couldn't. She tried to pull the arrow out, but the fire in her veins stopped her. A tear came to her eye, and she thought of Jaune, saying goodbye despite the pain.

Cinder grabbed her by the circlet just as Pyrrha's constitution gave up and her head slumped forward. There was a red flash, incinerating Pyrrha to ash. A wind blew, and Pyrrha's dust scattered into the night sky. Cinder smiled, dropping the circlet on the ground.

Ruby's eyes went wide. She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it. Pyrrha had just died. Cinder killed Pyrrha. And a new thought struck Ruby—Cinder had engineered Penny's death. Ruby had lost two of her dearest friends to Cinder.

Ruby's body shook as something within her chest broke. There was a mordant anger, but a soul-crushing woe surpassed it. Ruby felt it welling up inside her, and she couldn't stop her emotions from overflowing. White hot tears hit her eyes, and Ruby screamed Pyrrha's name. All she saw was a white light as a sanity splitting headache hit.

"What!" protested Cinder as she and the dragon were engulfed in the white light.

The white light dissipated and everything was quiet. There was only darkness now, and from somewhere very far away, Qrow's voice echoed, "It's alright. I've got you, kiddo. I got ya."

 _RWBY: The Novelization is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Views, opinions, and thoughts are all my own. Rooster Teeth and RWBY are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC._


End file.
